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Sharjah is the mecca of bookies

Vivek Shukla

Manoj Prabhakar is back in the news... this time for putting his name and imprimature to an allegation he had first floated a while ago.

In an exclusive interview, the former India all-rounder elaborated on his allegation that he had been offered Rs 2.5 million to play badly against Pakistan during the 1994 Singer Cup in Sri Lanka. Excerpts:

Manoj, you have said an Indian player offered you Rs 2.5 million to sabotage a match in Pakistan's favour. Would you care to name that player?

No. I wouldn't want to do that right now, there is no point in disclosing his name at this point in time.

Wouldn't you say that millions of cricket fans in this country deserve to know - if only to end the uncertainity?

You are right. My problem is that I don't have any proof to corroborate my claim, for obvious reasons. In this situation, even if I disclose the name of that player, he can always deny it.

There has been some talk that you yourself took a lot of interest in betting during your playing days. Is it true?

This is an absolutely baseless allegation. To be frank, I don't even know any bookies and punters who operate.

But Kirti Azad, your former Delhi Ranji captain, alleged in a interview that you have a nexus with bookies?

If Kirti has said this, then what can I say? You ask anyone in Delhi who has followed league cricket here, he will tell you which of us two, between Kirti Azad and me, was more apt to have such a nexus. He has no moral authority to make such allegations against me. I feel Kirti got jealous of me after I got selected for the Indian side.

Is it your belief that bookies have contacts with senior players of the Indian team?

It is very possible that some bookies have contact with our players. I still remember that some very shady people used to enter the Indian dressing rooms in various parts of the world, and spend time talking with some players.

And these "shady types", in your opinion, were bookies?

I cannot categorically say yes; but they could be bookies or punters. I suspect these people because I used to see the same faces from Melbourne to Bombay and from Calcutta to Canada.

You have played against all the Test-playing countries. Which of these, according to you, are the worst hit by the betting mafia?

I think the situation is getting from bad to worse as far as India and Pakistan are concerned. Some players of both teams have definite links with bookies.

Manoj, allegations have been levelled against you and another cricketer for batting slowly in the Kanpur 1994 ODI against the West Indies.
It is a baseless charge aimed at both of us. I don't know how I can convince people that I played in that match according to the instructions of our team management. Even BCCI secretary Jagmohan Dalmiya, in his interview to Outlook, has said there was no match-fixing in that game.

Where do bookies operate in a big way? I mean, from your experience, which would you name as the worst affected place in the cricketing world?

From personal experience, I would say Sharjah. Bookies are all over the place, but nowhere does it touch the levels it reaches in Sharjah -- that place is the Mecca of bookies. And there, even some of the umpires help bookies by tilting the results of matches.