IND: I Will Return If Azhar Goes Says Prabhakar (22 Jun 1996)

22 June 1996

I will return if Azhar goes, says Prabhakar

Former Test all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar said in Delhi on Saturday that he was willing to reconsider his decision to retire from international cricket, and to make a comeback to the Test side, if the present cricketing setup in the country was changed.

The all-rounder said he would announce his availability if the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the national selection committee, the team manager and the Indian captain show any sort of change in their current attitudes.

"I have no reservations about playing even under the captaincy of a player junior to me, like Sachin Tendulkar," Prabhakar told the media. His grouse with the Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin was that he had failed to infuse `one-ness` into the side, the all-rounder added.

The BCCI "consists of non-cricketing, unimaginative persons and the selection committee always works under pressure," Prabhakar said. "It has produced dissatisfaction and dejection in the minds of players over the years."

Prabhakar said that his decision to retire was a step against the system, not against the game which, he said, he still loved. "First it was me, then Vinod Kambli was dropped without any reason, then Navjot Singh Sidhu," he pointed out. "How can a team perform well where cricket managers do not listen to the players and their problems?"

In an open attack on the Indian skipper, Prabhakar said, "Under his captaincy, the team has become a disintegrated lot."

Taking pot shots at team manager Sandeep Patil, Prabhakar said, "Unlike Ajit Wadekar (Patil`s predecessor as manager), Sandeep Patil has no guts to improve the atmosphere in the Indian team. His please-all attitude has left many players disgruntled, and the performance of the Indian side has been steadily slipping."

Asked whether replacing Azharuddin as skipper would mend matters, Prabhakar said that that alone would make no difference. "The entire set up has to change, if we are to bring about positive results," he said.

Would be be for Tendulkar`s taking over the captaincy? "No," said Prabhakar. "The additional pressure might affect his batting."

The former all-rounder was of the view that former Test stars such as Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev should be inducted into the administrative level. Prabhakar supported Kapil`s statement, made recently, that Gavaskar was the ideal person to head the BCCI.

Source :: Rediff On The NeT (http.//www.rediff.co.in)