Think of all the attributes that would make an ideal spin bowler – the ability to turn the ball, deceive the batsman through flight and loop, the intelligence to quickly determine the right length and pace depending on the wicket and conditions, the conviction to set one’s own field and the discipline to bowl to it, the guile and confidence to be a step ahead of the batsman mentally. Now package all these attributes into a 1.65 meter human frame. What you get is the dream spin bowler. Let’s call him Erapalli Anantharao Srinivas Prasanna. EAS Prasanna is considered one of the greatest exponents of off-spin bowling the game of cricket has seen. This view is shared by those who played with him, batted against him and those who watched him bowl. In his Test career spanning from 1962 to 1978 – with a five-year gap from 1962-1967 during which he went back to school to get a degree in Engineering – Prasanna played 49 Test matches and picked up 189 wickets at 30.38. But the numbers do not even give a glimpse of the bowler that he was. Those of us who were not fortunate enough to have watched this magician in action, can gauge the magnitude of his greatness by the fact that Ian Chappell – one of the best players of spin bowling in his era – regards Prasanna as the best slow bowler he ever faced. His contemporary batsmen and fellow spinners talk about Prasanna’s incredible control over the flight of the ball with fascination. The simplicity, beauty and effectiveness of his bowling action is discussed with nostalgia by those who had the pleasure of watching him bowl. We, at BCCI.TV, tried to pick the brain of the legendary off-spinner and one fourth of India’s immortal spin quartet on the technicalities of spin bowling and what made him the epitome of greatness that he is. You are considered one of the greatest spinners the game of cricket has ever seen. According to you, what was it that made you the bowler you were? My capability of bowling length consistently. As a spinner it is imperative that one bowls length as he is unlikely to get wickets if he bowls short. Once you bowl length, you can spice it up with all the other variations and subtle elements. Throughout my career only about 10 per cent of time a batsman might have cut or pulled me. All the other times they had to play me off the front foot.

Another very important thing was that I set my own fields and I could bowl to my field. I always believed in one thing – the captain is there but as a bowler you have to set your own field, otherwise it becomes like backseat driving. If you bowl to the field set by the captain, that means you are sacrificing your line of thinking. One of your biggest strengths was the way you deceived the batsmen with your flight. They said you had the ball tied to a string. Was that something that came naturally to you or did you develop it? It was natural. Also, I used to play a lot of basketball. For someone my height the only way I could successfully shoot the basketball against a tall, jumping defender was to have a loop and the dip. Most of the time I played as a right-winger, so shooting from side-on helped me develop the same attributes in my bowling.

It is an interesting connection between cricket and basketball that you bring up. Could you elaborate on that a bit more? Looking at the coaching methodologies that are applied currently, I would rather have the cricketers train playing basketball rather than football. Football is far more injury-prone and physically demanding whereas basketball helps you develop many skills required for cricket. You will be running up and down for 60 minutes, which will build stamina. You will also be jumping and shooting a lot, which will develop your bowling arm. While dribbling you will bend and hit, which again, will make you agile and develop your back and feet muscles. So, if you break down various aspects of basketball, they are all helpful in cricket in some or the other way. I am surprised that no coach has thought of it. It is probably because basketball is a very difficult game for a cricketer to play as dribbling and shooting does not come naturally to them. But it does help in building stamina, quickening the reflexes and in developing precise footwork. What is the major change you made in your bowling depending on whether you bowled into the wind or with the wind? Bowling into the wind, the advantage is that you can take the ball away with the aerodynamics principle. You can also employ something known as the ‘fish effect’, a principle that is used in flying planes. While taking off and landing, the plane is held in floating position because of this phenomenon. The fish effect is nothing but the friction created between the wind and the ball. Due to this, the ball holds in the air for longer before drifting and then dips suddenly, hence deceiving the batsman in flight. This phenomenon is used in spin bowling when bowling into the wind. When you are bowling with the wind, you have to be more careful because the ball floats into the batsman faster. You should be able to calculate the trajectory accordingly so that you still bowl length. For that you have to bowl slower through the air. How did you determine the ideal pace to bowl at on a particular wicket? No matter how the wicket is, your first and foremost objective as a spinner should be to bowl length. You determine your pace based on how quickly the ball travels through the air to land on that length. This also determines your RPM (Revolutions Per Minute). Was playing with the psyche of the batsman a very big part of your bowling? As a spinner you always have to keep the batsman under control. You should have him play according to your wish. You are not bowling to the batsman, you are bowling at him. The tone you set in your very first spell, determines the run of the play for the next five hours. You can tell by looking at the batsman’s eyes how confident or apprehensive he is. That eye-to-eye contact tells you if the batsman is there to survive or dominate. If he is there to survive, you go for the kill. If you see dominative intent, you turn the tables by setting such a field that even his good shots go straight to the fielder. When that happens repeatedly, he does something else. And that is your opening.

For a spinner to thrive, he needs to have a good rapport with his captain. Could you talk a bit about your rapport with MAK Pataudi in that regards?

The most important thing for a spinner is that the captain should have faith in you. He should also be able to correctly assess you as to how good you are as an independent bowler. He has to allow you to bowl your way with your fields. With MAK Pataudi, once I set my field, he knew exactly what I was trying to do. He knew what ball was coming up next. There was an unspoken understanding between us. All the other aspects like setting up a batsman or making subtle changes in the field come when you share that kind of understanding with the captain.

You developed the doosra during your career and bowled it in the nets. But you never used it in a match. Why so?

The doosra was a useful ball, for sure. But I thought, when I am taking wickets at will with whatever variations I already have in my repertoire, there is no need to use the doosra. I could bowl it with minimal change in my action. The reason for that was that I bowled it with the wrist. A doosra can be bowled with a roll of the wrist without changing the straightness of your elbow. You need focus and the confidence that you can hit the right length even while doing so. Talk about being part of the famous spin quartet – the camaraderie, the chemistry and the competition.

BS Chandrasekhar: I always gauged the batsman’s confidence and capabilities based on how he faced Chandrasekhar. The way he faced Chandra, told me what mindset the batsman was in and how good he was technically. That was the greatness of Chandrasekhar. If the batsman was comfortable against Chandra, I knew I had to lift my game to succeed.

Bishan Singh Bedi:Bishan was the mirror image of me. So, if he was successful or had the batsman under control, it served as a manual for me as to how to take a wicket.

S Venkataraghavan: Venkatraghavan was the bowler who could peg a batsman down the most. He had this immense ability to annoy the batsman by not giving him any room to score runs. He created anxiety in the batsman’s mind. I could see that and exploit it when I came on to bowl. He supported me as an anchor.