Sanjay Manjrekar reminisces about ex-teammate Manoj Prabhakar in his book

Sanjay ManjrekarExcerpts from the chapter Teammates of Imperfect by Sanjay Manjrekar published by HarperCollinsRavi Shastri Sandeep Patil Sunil Gavaskar would all tell us stories about all those India players who would go missing when West Indies visited India Back in Mumbai former players like Dilip Sardesai would identify such players from his era telling us all about the phattoo scared players in his team Some of them would be in senior administrative roles as selectors aged over sixty but even then Sardesai would not spare them Look at him he is a selector now but he was such a phattoo player At an impressionable age these stories were drilled into our heads We werent going to be one of those phattoo players ever In complete contrast to my batting partner in Pakistan 198990 was Manoj PrabhakarAlso read Manoj Prabhakar named UP coach Heath Streak as consultantIn 199495 when I was making my comeback to Test cricket I was struggling in the dying moments of a days play in Mohali This was the Test in which we were bowled out for 114 in the second innings but in the first innings wed scored 387 I had scored two fifties in my first Test on comeback but again had a couple of low scores in Nagpur My confidence was a bit shaky and I desperately wanted to make it to the end of the second day after West Indies had scored 443 and had removed Sidhu for a duckKenny Benjamin who had troubled me throughout the series was at it again The other strike bowler was Courtney Walsh but it was Benjamin who had the wood on me in that series He bowled short of a length and got the ball to seam both ways off the pitch Throughout the series I had failed to pick him either from his wrist position or from the seam in the airSo I did something a bit outside my Mumbai batting character I went up to Prabhakar told him of my problems with Benjamin and asked him if he could take more of him till stumps Prabhakar immediately responded Arre you should have told me earlier in the series I would not have let you face him at allKapil DevPrabhakar went on to score a hundred the next morning Once again he had found himself opening the batting since the West Indies were in town This is why I had a problem with the Indian cricket culture at the time players like Prabhakar were not respected by the captain and the seniors their value was never properly appreciated To some extent that contributed to their being frustrated and becoming bitter and negative about Indian cricket Across the border Prabhakar was exactly the kind of player whod have flourished under the captaincy of ImranAt the 1992 World Cup there was this legendary photo of all the players on a ship Since I was an Imran fan I went up to chat and get a photograph taken We caught up he wanted to be updated on our recent cricket he kept track of my performance During that chat Imran was full of praise for Prabhakar he said Prabhakar put in a better allround performance than Kapil on that 199192 Australian tour Prabhakar was an Imran kinda player He was a bit different from most Indian cricketers at the time There were just a handful like him during my time especially my early days in the India teamHe was selfless opened the batting as well as the bowling in Test cricket I dont know how many people would do that even in modernday cricket Its a rare feat not just in Indian cricket but also at the international level He was a streetfighter to the core The Pakistan team under Imran was filled with such players it was Pakistans best ever team Prabhakar played like a rebel in our team and this was the source of his performance and output He overachieved if you ask me He wasnt that giftedManoj Prabhakar the streetfighter who played with grit and determination for IndiaMy theory is that he never forgave Kapil for what happened on the 1986 tour of England He was a part of the original squad Chetan Sharma got injured but Kapil called up Madan Lal from the leagues to replace him for the Headingley Test leaving Prabhakar out and forever angry Not many know this but Prabhakar was the first in the India team to learn and develop the art of reverse swing He in fact educated Kapil about it Kapil was quite a purist that way with his bowlingDespite all his suspicions and criticism of the system Prabhakar was happy to share whatever he learnt with anyone I remember he once took me aside in Delhi during a match By that time my relationship with him was strained I was angry with him when he pretended to be injured in one county game in England 1990 in which I was supposed to rest Because he opted out I had to play And I held that against him It was to set that right that he had taken me aside to have a chat He said Cmon Sanjay we are going to be playing together for a while now both of us are important players in this side People take advantage of such things and make sure we become even more distant from each other So lets bury the hatchet and get on with it My answer was an instant yes But Prabhakar was a man full of surprises After all I was one of his victims in those secret recordings for Tehelka Im still amazed at how it all unfolded I was invited by Chandrakant Pandit former India keeper and batsman and a dear friend to speak to his students to inaugurate his cricket academy at Andheri in Mumbai When I reached the venue Pandit told me that Prabhakar was also coming I found it strange but Pandit said he was in town so he invited him too and Prabhakar had immediately agreedThe moment our work was done at the academy Prabhakar hopped into my car saying he wanted a lift till Juhu I was driving and he sat in the front next to me I told him to leave his handbag mdash it seemed like a gym bag mdash in the back seat but he insisted on carrying it on his lap Somewhere along the way he steered our conversation towards matchfixing especially about matches in Sharjah One match in particular mdashthe one wed lost in fading light Now I was not naive I had a lot of respect for Prabhakar as a cricketer and admired some of his qualities as a person but he was never in my inner circle of friends because for some reason I could not fully trust him So I gave him nothing He persisted with his probing questions but I remained guarded Maybe with Kiran More and Sachin Id have been more forthcoming but with him I wasntAlso with respect to the Sharjah game we were talking about I still believe if Sachin and me had hung around longer we would have won the match Despite all my admiration for him it was due to that conversation in the car that day and how it was recorded under the garb of a sting operation that Prabhakar failed the most important test for me the test of integrity We became distant again I met him after many years in 2016 during the World T20 when he was coaching Afghanistan I could not help but greet him warmly Time heals old wounds I guessCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the 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