Erapalli Prasanna was the off-spinner of India’s great spin quartet, a bowler who relied on flight, drift and a sharp cricketing brain rather than sheer turn. He took 189 wickets in 49 Tests and became the fastest Indian to 100 Test wickets, a record that stood for decades. He did all this after stepping away from international cricket for five years to finish an engineering degree, which says a good deal about the man as well as the bowler.
Name: Erapalli Anantharao Srinivas Prasanna | Born: 22 May 1940, Bangalore | Sport: Cricket | Position: Right-arm off-spin bowler
A Bangalore spinner with a scientist’s patience
Prasanna grew up in Bangalore and learned to bowl off-spin in a city whose cricket was then overshadowed by Bombay and Madras. What he had above all was an instinct for how to set a batter up over several deliveries. He would toss the ball above the eyeline, tempt the drive, and then bowl one slightly quicker or shorter. Batters who thought they had worked him out often found themselves stumped or caught at short leg.
An early debut and a long gap
His Test debut came against England at Madras in January 1962, in the 1961-62 home series. After a short start to his international career he made a decision that few young sportsmen would make today. He left the game to complete his engineering degree, studying at the National Institute of Engineering in Mysore. Cricket was then an amateur pursuit for most Indian players, and a degree promised a future that the sport could not guarantee.
He returned to the Indian side in 1967. The break did his bowling no harm. If anything, he came back a more complete spinner, with a better understanding of pace and angle, and he soon became a regular in a side that was beginning to build its attack around slow bowling.
The fastest Indian to 100 wickets
Prasanna reached 100 Test wickets in only 20 matches, then the quickest by any Indian bowler. The record lasted until Ravichandran Ashwin broke it in the modern era. He finished with 10 five-wicket hauls and two ten-wicket matches in Tests, and his best innings figures were 8 for 76.
One of four
The late 1960s and 1970s belonged to India’s four spinners: Prasanna, Bishan Singh Bedi, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Srinivas Venkataraghavan. Prasanna and Venkataraghavan were both off-spinners, which meant they often competed for a single place in the side. Prasanna’s strength was deception in the air, and he was prepared to keep tossing the ball up even when batters attacked him. In 1976, against New Zealand, Prasanna and Chandrasekhar shared 19 wickets in a single Test, an example of how dangerous the combination of off-spin and leg-spin could be.
He played his last Test in 1978, ending a career that spanned 49 matches and 735 runs with the bat, at an average of 11.48.
Leading Karnataka to the Ranji Trophy
At domestic level Prasanna was a highly successful captain. He led Karnataka to the Ranji Trophy twice. The first of those titles ended Bombay’s 15-year hold on the competition and announced Karnataka as a force in Indian cricket. In all first-class cricket he played 235 matches and took 957 wickets at 23.45, with 56 five-wicket hauls and a best of 8 for 50.
Recognition and later life
Prasanna received the Padma Shri in 1970. In 2004 he and his fellow spinners in the quartet were jointly presented with the Col. C. K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award by the BCCI. He received the Castrol Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. His autobiography, One More Over, gives a lively account of a cricket career fitted around an engineering education.
Career record and honours
- Tests: 49 matches, 189 wickets, average 30.38, best 8 for 76, 10 five-wicket hauls, two ten-wicket matches
- Test batting: 735 runs, average 11.48
- First-class: 235 matches, 957 wickets, average 23.45, best 8 for 50
- Test debut: January 1962 v England, Madras
- Reached 100 Test wickets in 20 matches, then an Indian record
- Captained Karnataka to two Ranji Trophy titles
- Padma Shri, 1970
- Col. C. K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award, 2004 (shared with the spin quartet)
- Castrol Lifetime Achievement Award, 2006
