An evening with EAS Prasanna

It is not often that one gets to hear Erapalli Prasanna 83 speak at length So when I got the opportunity to attend an evening chat show in Bangalore two weeks ago to celebrate 50 years of Karnatakarsquos 197374 Ranji Trophy triumph I jumped at itFrom my seat at the Bangalore International Centre auditorium I was regaled by Prasannarsquos 197374 memories as captain of that championshipwinning side was reminded how fascinating cricket was in the 1970s and welcomed his candidness about T20 cricket which would make some cringeldquoThe mindset of a spinner in T20 cricket is not to take a wicket but to control the rate of scoring T20 is not cricket at all it is a spectatorrsquos gamerdquo Prasanna emphasisedFor someone who has read his autobiography One More Over much more than once Prasanna still had so much to offer within and beyond the time of the bookrsquos release in 1977His companions on stagemdashhistorian Ramachandra Guha sports writers Suresh Menon and Sharda Ugra as well as some members of the audiencemdashplayed fine catalysts for Prasanna to tell it like it isAll four on stage were Bangalorebased and got Prasanna to rewind effortlessly But Ugra a midday staffer from 1989 to 1993 Irsquom proud to state also fuelled Prasannarsquos desire to speak on other Karnataka greats like Syed Kirmani whom she admired as a young cricket enthusiast and Javagal Srinath whose career she covered entirely In a way Kirmani and Srinath are often unsung Prasanna did justice to both these achievers It must be said that Kirmani kept to Prasanna and BS Chandrasekhar in state cricket and was behind the stumps when BS Bedi and S Venkataraghavan as well as his two statemates operated in Test cricket from January 1976 to February 1979 ldquoI rate Kirmani as the best wicketkeeper India has produced To be honest Chandra didnrsquot know what he was doing so how do you expect the batsman to know what he was bowling So he Kirmani could read Chandrarsquos uncertainty before the batsman could do so We were all fortunate to have Kirmani as a wicketkeeperrdquo remarked Prasanna of the stumper who last played for India in 198586Srinath was appreciated as eloquently ldquoJavagal Srinath was probably the best fast bowler India has produced but unfortunately did not get the same mileage as Kapil Dev I feel very sorry for Srinath He should have got the same writeups as Kapil Srinath was bowling as fast as anybody elserdquo Prasanna said remembering the Mysore manrsquos hattrick for Karnataka on his Ranji Trophy debut against Hyderabad in 198990A lot was spoken about Prasannarsquos craft The ball that bowled Sunil Gavaskar in the 197374 Ranji Trophy semifinal was remembered ldquoI bowled with a purpose Whether it was Sunil Gavaskar or Garry Sobers or Rohan Kanhai it didnrsquot bother me at all I bowled to the batsman not to the name Itrsquos a batsmanrsquos game but the match will not start unless the bowler bowlsrdquo he said even though an umpire will beg to disagreeMenon recalled Prasanna bowling to a young Mohammed Azharuddin in the nets during the second half of the 1980s ldquoHe Prasanna kept getting his Azharuddinrsquos offstump and one of the officials came to Pras and said lsquoplease stop bowling to the Indian batsmen their morale is going downrsquo rdquo While Prasanna could just smile earlier in the evening he spoke about the time when he was manager of the Indian team on their victorious tour of Australia in 1985 ldquoUntil 1985 the Board of Control for Cricket in India never thought that players would be well supported with physical fitness I managed the team in the B amp H World Championship of Cricket That was the first time I felt the need of support staff because I had to take the drinks to the players while they were practising I needed to bowl to them in the nets and had to keep in touch with the nocturnals because our good habits were such audience in splits all these things I was doing all by myself So 1985 onwards there was a change in approach And I think now they have 25 support staff for 15 playersrdquo said PrasannaldquoAnother factor that may have helped was that I used to practise with them Sometimes it is easier to demonstrate rather than explain it as theoryrdquo Prasanna told journalist R Mohan in The Sportstar way back thenMore accolades flew thick and fast bit but Guha probably saved the most fitting one for last He recalled an incident which took place in Jaipur where Australia played the West Indies in the 1996 World Cup less than two weeks before their exciting semifinal clash at Mohali ldquoWarne was bowling in the nets and Pras happened to be there He walked across the ground tapped Warne on the shoulder shook his hand and said lsquoSon you have great talent I hope you keep on bowling for many years to comersquo Warnie looked at Pras and said who is this little man giving me this compliment Ian Chappell happened to be overhearing the conversation and said lsquoShane that is Erapalli Prasannamdashthe greatest spin bowler of my generationrsquo rdquoI messaged Chappell the day after the function saying his pal Prasanna was in top form He messaged back ldquoGood to hear it He was a bloody fine bowler and always trying to get you outrdquoWell Indiarsquos finest offspin bowler of the 1960s and 1970s bowled us over on an easy Bangalore pitch causing us to reflect about how someonersquos craft content and contributions are not celebrated enoughmiddayrsquos group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance He tweets ClaytonMurzelloSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individualrsquos and donrsquot represent those of the paper