Manoj Prabhakar to get his pension 15 years after his ban ends

Manoj Prabhakar, the tainted Indian cricketer, will be receiving his benevolent found and monthly gratis (equivalent of pension) 15 years after his suspension ended. Ashok Malhotra, the president of Indian Cricket Association (ICA) said the same. Earlier, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) banned him for five years after his alleged involvement in match-fixing along with a few big names.

Malhotra stated that he has been given an assurance on this by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly. After his ban ended, Prabhakar has coached plenty of domestic teams in India and also took the mantle of the being the bowling coach of the Afghanistan national cricket team.

BCCI had no other misgivings about Manoj Prabhakar’s involvement with cricket

‘‘After his ban ended in 2005, Prabhakar has served as coach for a number of state teams like Delhi, Rajasthan while he was also the bowling coach of the Afghanistan national team. This shows the BCCI had no other misgivings about his involvement with cricket,’’ Malhotra was quoted as saying in Gulf News.

In his career, Prabhakar played 39 Tests and 130 ODIs from 1984 to 1996. Apart from scoring 1,600 and 1,858 runs in Tests and ODIs respectively, he picked up a combined tally of 253 wickets at the highest level. His last match was against Sri Lanka in March 1996.

In the meantime, Malhotra feels that the renowned Indian players should come forward for the development of cricket in the country.

“We need the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to join the association for it to improve the lot of cricketers in the country. The greats of the game in our country have not come from above, but have been a product of our cricketing ecosystem only,” he added.

The ICA, recently, raised INR 6.4 million to provide financial relief to 36 retired first-class cricketers in the coronavirus pandemic. The ICA classified the players into three categories. Even as Category A would get Rs 1,00,000, Category B and C would be getting Rs 80,000 and 60,000 respectively.

‘‘We asked for applications from cricketers who have played less than 25 first class matches – as they will not be eligible for the BCCI’s benevolent fund. For us, even if somebody has played one first class match has also served the cause of Indian cricket and some of them are really struggling for survival,” Malhotra added.