Manoj Prabhakar — patriot for a price

Prabhakar was always seen as a rebel without a pause — an image he could have refurbished belatedly had he spilt the beans about the team-mate who who made the Rs 25-lakh offer to him to sabotage India’s Singer Cup match against Pakistan in 1994 at Colombo. But instead of rising in stature as a national hero, he has emerged as the villain of the piece — like a soldier demanding an unfair price to protect his motherland.

What is Prabhakar’s interest in his belated, part disclosure ? There are two possibilities. Either he has used the media to get wide publicity that he is willing to sell the story or he scents an opportunity to make an international comeback by trying to extract the price of silence. Either way he can rake in the moolah.

The latest issue of the Outlook carries another damning statement by Prabhakar when he makes a not-so-veiled statement about the Colombo episode: “Also, at the time of the incident, I had made all efforts to inform the concerned persons and they had advised me to forget it and carry on with the game. I do hope everybody understands what this means.”

While a nation is outraged by the accusations to sell the country’s interests, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) mandarins have shut their eyes, ears and mouth to the alleged unholy nexus between players and bookies. Indeed, Jagmohan Dalmiya has emerged as a modern day Nero. The BCCI secretary is fiddling in the Garden of Eden while Indian cricket and its honour is in flames.

Dalmiya, any cricket writer will vouch, is an artful dodger. Evasive when facing bumpers from the media, non-committal at best, non-communicative in the worst of times and a master at buying time.

While rumours of bookies-players nexus have been raging over the years, it’s for the first time that a player is making accusation against a team-mate. Even the Salim Malik controversy pales in comparison. In that case, the accusations were made by opponents.

An enquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), comprising men who have no known liking for the game and its players, will help in bringing the culprits to book. The BCCI owe it to protect the innocent players who are suffering in the general suspicion.

Of course, if Prabhakar’s final salvo in the latest Outlook is any indication, then there are hardly any innocents. Says the the angry young man: “In fact, if I could ever reveal all that I have gone through and seen, you would see that in this hamam (communal bathing area) of Indian cricket, almost everyone is naked.”