When Shane Warne was practicing at Jaipur during the 1996 World Cup, a short, middle-aged man had walked up to him, shook his hands, and uttered the words “Son, you have a great talent. I hope you keep bowling for years to come.” A perplexed Warne was then educated by Ian Chappell, who was present at the spot: “Shane, you are speaking to 
Erapalli Prasanna, the greatest slow-bowler of my generation.”
“Technically I rate the little Indian off-spinner Prasanna a better bowler than Gibbs. I ve seen Laker in Australia and I ve seen Gibbs. Gibbs, I rate above Laker, but below Prasanna. I place Prasanna, if not above, at least at par with another genius off-spinner, the Sri Lankan wizard Muttiah Muralitharan.” - Ashley Mallett.
There are far too many things to discuss about Erapalli Prasanna, who is still rightfully considered India's greatest off-spinner even after the advent of Bhajji and the current exploits of Ashwin (the underrated Ghulam Ahmed merits mention here too). The former lacked the consistency of Prasanna while the latter still has not delivered a definitive SENA performance like Prasanna. Most important of all is them playing for far superior Indian teams. A simple analysis of comparative records will leave Prasanna as the clear loser (and could explain his rather low VARP). He was the third best in India's famous spin quartet and was frequently dropped due to zonal politics with the clearly inferior Venkataraghavan being picked ahead of him. There are several other what-ifs too that could have immensely helped his career.
- What if the lbw rule was much stricter as it is now? Finger-spinners are clearly the ones most benefited by the current lbw rules and the advent of DRS has further aided that. Prasanna's biggest weapon was deceiving his opponent with a mastery of flight as a ball that was seemingly a half-volley would turn into a completely unplayable one once delivered. Batsmen eventually simply started to 'pad' these deliveries safe in the knowledge of the laws and umpires protecting them often to the frustration of Prasanna. The great man thinks the same.
- What if Prasanna had not interrupted his promising career with a move to obtain a degree in engineering to respect his father's wish? Might he have played a lot more games for India? He remains the player with the least number of test matches out of the quartet despite having the second longest career span.
- What if he had the benefit of a county experience that helped Bedi and even Venkataraghavan immensely?
- What if Tiger Pataudi's successor was someone who believed in him rather than someone who succumbed to regional politics, discouraged the use of aggressive tactics for him and wanted a more defensive spinner to accomodate Chandrasekhar and Bedi? Under Pataudi, Prasanna became the quickest Indian bowler to reach a hundred test wickets in just twenty games and was one of the most successful bowlers in the world during a golden four year period that included an incredible tour of Australia where he was the highest wicket-taker on either side despite India being defeated in all games (it was the same tour where he impressed Mallett and Chappell so much). He followed that up with a tour of New Zealand where he was the most successful bowler yet again and this time he was on the side of victory as India achieved their first overseas series victory.
- After Pataudi's sacking though, Prasanna would average 35 with the ball compared to a health 27 prior to that and Venkataraghavan's superior batting ability, fitness and defensive bowling earned him a spot in most games. It was so bizarre to see him not selected in the England tour that while on television, Jim Laker commented: “if India can afford to drop Prasanna, the Indian side must be very strong”.
It took an Ian Chappell article praising him for the off-spinner to regain his confidence and for the selectors take notice. He would now lead Karnataka to a shock Ranji title as they became the first team not named Bombay to win the title in sixteen years! Prasanna dismissed Gavaskar with one of the greatest balls the opener had ever faced and would take a five-wicket haul on an unfriendly pitch. In the final, he would take nine wickets in total and deliver Karnataka their first Ranji Trophy. This was followed by the reinstatement of Pataudi as the captain temporarily which helped boost his confidence despite middling performances and he would go on to deliver the best performance of his career in New Zealand, picking up
8 wickets at the expense of 76 runs which still remains a record for any Indian bowler in an overseas test. A good home series against England would follow but by now it was clear that Prasanna was no longer the force he was as he struggled on a tour of Australia (although he did pick up five wickets in what is still India's biggest victory on Australian soil) before suffering the only real blemish of his international career as he was taken apart by a Pakistani side that was adept at playing spin. The series ended the careers of three Indian spinners although Prasanna was the first one to suffer the axe. When it was announced that he was dropped from the Indian side, he promptly retired from all forms of cricket.
One important factor that is often forgotten about Prasanna and is hidden by the stats is his ability to often deliver the breakthrough wicket which often made him indispensable in the bowling unit. There are several players and old Indian fans who consider him to be the best and most feared out of the spin quartet for his ability to deceive batsmen with the unpredictable bounce and turn (he was rumoured to be the finger-spinner who turned the ball the most even on placid pitches until the advent of Murali) and also remain incredibly consistent. He is no doubt one of the names that deserve to be in an all-time great Indian XI.
In my team, he shall serve as the captain owing to his excellent domestic record and repute as a leader and will serve as the primary spinner even on pitches without much assistance as he quite often showed in his career. (I could write a lot more about this underappreciated cricketer but I need to save some content for my own write-up on Karnataka in the future
)
- Marvan Atapattu
- ?
- Clem Hill
- Roy Dias
- ?
- Shakib Al Hasan
- ?
- Amar Singh
- ?
- Matthew Hoggard
- Erapalli Prasanna
@Akshay. to pick next.
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