Overview

Manoj Prabhakar About this sound pronunciation (helpinfo) (born 15 April 1963) is an Indian former cricketer. He was a right-arm medium-pace bowler and a lower-order batsman who also opened the innings sometimes for the Indian cricket team until his retirement in 1996.

Prabhakar took 96 wickets in Test cricket, 157 wickets in One Day Internationals, and over 385 first class wickets playing for Delhi. He has also played for Durham. Prabhakar is remembered for his bowling which was his strongest suit; using slower balls, and outswingers and opening the bowling. He was also a useful lower-order batsman and a defensive opener.

Career

As a Player

Prabhakar regularly opened India’s batting and the bowling in the same match, one of the few players to do so consistently at international level.He fancied batting for hours and hours without scoring a run.He used to put crowd to sleep by his snail batting in ODIs.He accomplished this 45 times in ODIs and 20 times in Tests, more than any other player in both formats.[1][2]

At the age of 32, Prabhakar played his last ODI against Sri Lanka in the 1996 Cricket World Cup in Delhi. He struggled to bowl well in the match and had to bowl off-spin in the last two overs.[3] The crowd booed him off the ground.[3] After 1996 World Cup, he was not selected for the Indian team’s tour of England and retired.

A graph showing Prabhakar’s test career bowling statistics and how they have varied over time.

As a Coach

Prabhakar served as the Delhi cricket team‘s bowling coach and as the head coach of the Rajasthan cricket team.[4] In November 2011, he was sacked as the coach of Delhi for speaking against the management and the team in media.[5] In December 2015, he was named as bowling coach of Afghanistan cricket team ahead of 2016 ICC World Twenty20 that was played in India in March 2016.[6]

Controversies

In 1999, Prabhakar participated in Tehelka‘s expose of match-fixing, but was himself charged of involvement and subsequently banned by the BCCI from playing cricket.[7] He was dismissed from his coaching role with the Delhi cricket team in 2011 after he publicly criticized the players and selectors.[8]

Prabhakar was accused for his slow century against West Indies along with Nayan Mongia’s 21 ball 4

Personal life

Prabhakar joined the Congress party and unsuccessfully contested election to the Indian Parliament from Delhi in 1996. Prabhakar is married to actress Farheen, who is known for her roles in the films Jaan Tere Naam and Kalaignan. The couple lives in Delhi, with their two sons, Raahil Prabhakar and Manavansh Prabhakar,[9] and also Rohan Prabhakar, a son from previous marriage with Sandhya.[10]