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Journalism of Courage
In the end it was not so much a question of what he said, but how and when he said it. When Manoj Prabhakar launched a new website with his yellow-splashed interview and monosyllabic press conference implicating Kapil Dev in a three-year-old whodunit, he did not tell anyone anything they did not already know. I.S. Bindra, former BCCI chief and rebel with a still uncertain cause, had already stolen his thunder a couple of weeks ago.
Even the histrionics were over, with a teary-eyed Kapil having taken us through the labyrinthine corridors of human psychology on the soul-shattering consequences of an icon breaking down before rapidly blinking millions. Only some tricky questions remained. To which Prabhakar has made some uncomfortable additions, for himself if not also for Kapil and the men who policed Indian cricket in the mid-nineties.
That may be so. Still, after making his sensational charge that a fellow cricketer had offered him Rs 25 lakh, why did he not reveal the bribe-offerer8217;s name at that point. And a few months later why did he remain tightlipped while deposing before Justice Y.V. Chandrachud. The former Supreme Court chief justice8217;s endeavours may have subsequently come in for much criticism, but Prabhakar too cannot shirk off blame for crucifying all of Indian cricket with his long silence. It8217;s a lapse Prabhakar must make up for.
If his self-reported howls of protest at being asked to sell out for a Pakistani victory are to ring true, the former all-rounder has to bestir himself out of the lethargic role he has adopted thus far and demonstrate a more visible willingness to cooperate.
But the match-fixing story has gone beyond Prabhakar. In the second century BC Greek statesman Polybius left a clue for generations to come, 8220;Truth resides in the panoramic rather than a local view of events.8221; And the panoramic view of cricket at the start of the twenty-first century is not very heartening. Pakistan8217;s Qayyum report has been made public, but one must ask whether a mere life ban would be enough of a deterrent for cricketers seeking to follow in Salim Malik8217;s footsteps.
In India the cricket establishment is crumbling with the triad of Bindra, Jagmohan Dalmiya and A.C. Muthiah embroiled in mindboggling permutations of slugfests. Kapil Dev, for his part, has every right to a fair trial, but the Prabhakar bombshell is bound to affect how his coaching in coming days is perceived. The only solution to this web of troubles lies in inquiring into these allegations and other leads at the very earliest. Time is as much of the essence as the logistics of the inquiry.
