Resigned for the sake of self respect: Manoj Prabhakar

Manoj Prabhakar

Former India all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar, who exited the Nepal coaching job after only four months, was asked to resign, it is learnt. A source in Nepal said of the 59-year-old Prabhakar: "The players were not happy with his methods of coaching. He was ignoring senior players. He used to change the settled batting line-up often and was trying to make bowlers into batsmen. In short, we were not happy with this style of coaching and didn't want the CAN [Cricket Association of Nepal] to suffer. It was a bad experience to have him as our coach.

"He had been appointed for a year in August this year. We asked him to resign and his contract was terminated prematurely."

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Prabhakar initially refused to talk about the issue, but when pressed, he said, "Yes, I have left coaching the team. It was the best decision to resign for the sake of self respect." He also defended his decisions to change the batting order. "It was taken in the interest of the team, keeping in mind the bowling strategy of the opposite team. And how can I change a batsman to a bowler? I asked the all-rounder to bowl. During my stint, we won against Kenya and the UAE."

It must be stressed that CAN's last three coaches (Dav Whatmore, Pubudu Dassanayake and Manoj Prabhakar) resigned before their contracts expired. The Indian trainer Prabhakar brought in - Abdul Sattar - has been retained.