NEWS
SCHEDULES
COLUMNS
PREVIOUS TOURS
OTHER SPORTS
STATISTICS
INTERVIEWS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

The Chandrachud Report

H. Dilip Vengsarkar :

I had never heard of the word match fixing when I was in the team. It was a matter of great pride and honour for me to play for my country. You always played to win. I played actively from 1976 to 1992.

Knowing the Indian team it seems to me impossible that any of our players cannot be purchased to perform badly.The achievement of scoring the large number of runs in a representative match has no substitute. I believe that you cannot fix a match unless you get at least five or six players in your trap. Even two or three good players cannot fix the match. People may have forgotten that Srinath and Kumble won for India the Titan cup against Australia by playing thrillingly as tailenders.The umpires play a large part in the fortune of the game. I believe that for fixing a match even the umpire may have to be fixed. What people must not forget is that even the best of players go through a lean patch.

I. Sanjay Manjrekar:

I do not have any first hand knowledge about betting on cricket matches. It is only during the last four years that I have heard stories about betting on cricket. But even then I never heard any stories about betting from teammates. As a member of the team I never even suspected that there was betting on cricket or any of my teammates was involved in it. My test career began in 1987.

As regards to match fixation cricket is a team game of all 11 players. It is not possible to influence all of the 11 players through one or two players bribing them. Even one failure for a batsman like me, with lakhs of people watching the game means much more, then getting out delberately on payment of a bribe.

The statements made by Manoj Prabhakar are wholly untrue. In fact, they are contrary to facts which are known to everyone. Our match at Sharjah aganst Pakistan in October 1991 started late. We were on the right path when the umpire said that the light was bad. There was a brief stoppage. But it is untrue that Manoj Prabhakar and I went to the pavilion. Ashok Mankad was the manager of the team.

It is well known that matches have been won by tailenders often times. Chetan Sharma won the game for us by scoring a century in the MRF World Series at Kanpur. That makes match fixing difficult to believe.

J. Ashok Mankad :

It seems to me certain that there is betting on cricket. However, I am not aware of any cricketer past or present being involved in betting. I was a manager of the team twice-first in 1986 and then in 1991. I retired from my test career in 1978. In my opinion no cricketer worth his salt will entertain the thought of selling himself at the cost of his country's honour. The price of the Indian Test-cap cannot be measured in terms of money because, it is bought with tears and sweat. My father, Vinoo Mankad, who was one of the great players of his times, used to say that the grass on the cricket field is grown with the sweat of the cricketers. The statements made by Manoj Prabhakar are wholly untrue and unfounded. He should not be afraid of disclosing the names of his team-mates who offered the bribe to him. He has defamed the entire cricket fraternity and has devalued the national character by his unwarranted remarks. The Sharjah match of which he speaks did not take place at all. Besides, it was an inconsequential match since India had reached the final. Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties. That is why the whole world watches it with suspense and excitement. If a batsman score a century every time and the bowler took a wicket in every over, the game will cease to be interesting.

K. Chandu Borde :

I captained the Indian team in Adelaide in 1968. I was the manager of the team which toured Pakistan in 1989. I was Chairman of the Selection Committee for seniors for 4 years and for juniors for 4 years. I was the vice-captain of the team and have toured all cricket-playing countries as a player.

Though I retired a long time back from first class cricket, I am still in touch with the game. I take active interest in the game, meet many players, old and new, and exchange thoughts with them. Not one person has ever told me that any member of the cricket team takes a bribe to play badly. No one has ever told me that Indian matches are fixed. I follow the game closely even today and my experience belies the story that any cricket match is fixed. The story of Manoj Prabhakar seems to me impossible to believe.

L. Sandeep Patil :

I played as a member of the Indian team from 1979 to 1986. I was a cricket coach for the Indian team from 18th March 1986 to Sept. 1996. Our team played in Singapore for six days, for one week at Sharjah, for 70 days in England, for 10 days in Sri Lanka and for 10 days in Toronto. I assisted Ajit Wadekar in Nov. 1995 with the New Zealand home series and I was coordinator during the World Cup series, which ended on 17th March 1996.

I have seen one of the leading players in the Indian team talking on the mobile phone right through the tour for long periods like 20 minutes from the balcony of the Lords dressing room. I wrote to the board that players should not be allowed to take mobile phones with them once they leave the hotel. My suggestion was readily accepted. I had also complained to Mr. Jagmohan Dalmia that I suspected two persons, one of them a player and other closely connected with him, were leaking important information to the press. I was also unable to understand why Dr. Ali Irani was allowed to attend the team meetings on the eve of the match or at any time.

I have experienced that the press knew the composition of the team before the team was officially declared.

There can be betting on cricket on the basis of information leaked to the bookies. But, my long experience shows that no Indian player has ever laid a bet to loose a match. It has never happened and I am sure that it'll never happen in the future. People are given to talk loosely. Such rumours began to rise with the introduction of the mobile phones and with at least one of the key players talking on the mobile from the balcony of the dressing room. Those who saw that drew the inference that the player concerned was talking to some suspicious characters. Such an inference is natural but I do not think that the inference is justified. I repeat that no Indian player will ever bet to loose a match. As the present editor of a fortnightly called 'Shatkar', I am still in very close touch with the game. On the basis of my experience I reject the allegation of match fixing.

More