The Hindu : Prasanna keen to work with Indian spinners

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 22, 2003

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Sport - Cricket

Prasanna keen to work with Indian spinners

By G. Viswanath

Erapalli Prasanna, who is disappointed with the performance of the Indian spinners, is eager to help them out. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

Mumbai Oct. 20. The master of offspin bowling E. A. S. Prasanna is keen and eager to work with India's spinners and guide them. He feels that India's spin bowling is too predictable and its major shortcomings can be found in the `art of spin' and `art of wicket-taking.'

It's up to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the team management to quickly have a working arrangement with a spinner, whom Ian Chappell rated the best in business in the 1960s and 70s. Prasanna expected things would move rapidly after the spinners conclave meeting in Kolkata in June.

"It did not. Harbhajan has to learn. Let him bowl ten overs with authority and guile, which I think he cannot do it now. He has to change his mindset and ready to become a better bowler than what he is now. I would have been a happy man working with the bunch of spinners at the Bangalore camp and thereafter being associated with the national team during the series against New Zealand so that I could have monitored them. What's important is monitoring and discussing things. We could have worked out strategies. It would have been a win-win situation,'' he said.

Without being too critical, Prasasnna felt that Harbhajan has not made the kind of progress he's expected to make after the success against Australia three years ago.

"He's not a bowler with limitations. He's come to a stagnation point. After he took 32 wickets against Australia, people expected to him to make rapid progress. They were right. He's young and he's got plenty of chances for overcoming this stagnation point. He needs guidance for which he alone has to make up his mind. He's taken 150 wickets. He's got the talent, but he needs guidance and modifications for which he must be mentally prepared. Willingness to learn is the first sign of a good bowler. He has to become imaginative and creative to do different things every time he bowls. You can do this only by practice and under supervision. Nets is the bottom line.''

Prasanna believes that art has to be passed on. "I was a great admirer of Subhash Gupte. He was streets ahead of all of us. He is dead and gone. He has taken his art with him. It's about time, when we are still alive and when we are willing to give it back to the game, our experience is shared with these boys, including Harbhajan. Spin bowling is an art which has to be passed on.''

"I bowled at Vijay Manjrekar, one of the greatest batsman of spin bowling. When I was inducted into the Indian team, I was bowling at Nari Contractor, Vijay Manjrekar, and Polly Umrigar, all fine batsmen. I used to get the personal satisfaction of curtailing these batsmen. Curtailing means to keep them guessing. So that's my objective. Manjrekar thought I was bowling exceedingly well and encouraged me. His admiration for my bowling was a source of inspiration for me. Then I had a good captain like Pataudi.''

Talking of wiles and guiles he said that he tends to agree that one cannot defeat the batsman all the time in the air. "One has to use the condition of the wicket to his advantage. At times one has to bowl on wickets that are not responsive. That will show one's abilities. There are so many ways of taking wickets on flat and green tops. The conditions are only secondary and one has to make the conditions suit his type of bowling.''

"The art of spin and wicket-taking is lacking at the present moment. I am sorry to say India has failed in the litmus test against New Zealand. In our times the pressure was kept on any touring side because we had three attacking spinners. Seeing is believing and everyone has seen it in Ahmedabad and Mohali where we never even attempted to take wickets. We do not have a spin attack that can dictate and take wickets.''

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