Day after losing his cool,Prabhakar loses his job

DDCA bosses sack head coach after players,including Dhawan and Manhas,said they had lost faith in him

A day after he lashed out at his players and state selectors questioning their attitude and commitment,Manoj Prabhakar was summarily sacked as coach of the Delhi Ranji team on Tuesday by the Delhi and District Cricket Association DDCA.

On Monday,Prabhakar had told The Indian Express that he should not be blamed if the Delhi side did not fare well this season,which begins on Thursday with the first match against Haryana at the Roshanara Cricket Club in the capital.

He has been removed, Chetan Chauhan,chairman of the selectors and vice-president of the DDCA,confirmed on Tuesday evening,adding: We decided to take this decision after what came out in The Indian Express.

Prabhakar8217;s deputy Sanjeev Sharma was named as his replacement.

Attacking the selectors,Prabhakar had said he had not been consulted before the squad was picked.

He had said that Delhi opener Shikhar Dhawan had an attitude problem after he had arrived for training wearing a Deccan Chargers jersey.

Prabhakar also said that India under-19 skipper Unmukt Chand didnt show the application required to play four-day cricket.

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My biggest concern is that the batsmen don8217;t seem to be willing to learn. They are not open to new suggestions and don8217;t want to fine tune their game, Prabhakar had said after watching the players hitting uppish shots during Monday8217;s practice session.

Miffed at the charges that came out in print,the players on Tuesday morning pursued the matter with the DDCA. Players confronted him Prabhakar this morning. Unmukt Chand,Shikhar Dhawan and captain Mithun Manhas complained to us about his comments and we took action, said Chauhan.

On his last day as coach,Prabhakar was seen walking alongside his players at the Roshanara ground. Even as the team underwent the drills,Prabhakar8217;s attention was focused extensively on pacer Ishant Sharma,who will be representing India in the first Test against the West Indies to be played at the Ferozeshah Kotla from Sunday.

While the coach8217;s outburst might have been unexpected,things clearly hadn8217;t been rosy between Prabhakar and the players and selectors. There were differences of opinion between him and the captain and I. DDCA president Arun Jaitley had advised him to restrain himself in the past. We wanted him to act as a coach,but what he said in the newspaper crossed all limits, said Chauhan. How can you criticise the players and then say 8216;I have no expectations from them this season8217;,coming so near to the opening game. This kind of behaviour cannot be tolerated. And it wasn8217;t.