Erapalli Anantharao Srinivas Prasanna (born 22 May 1940) is a former Indian

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

player. He was a

spin bowler Spin bowling is a bowling technique in cricket, in which the ball is delivered slowly but with the potential to deviate sharply after bouncing. The bowler is referred to as a spinner. Purpose The main aim of spin bowling is to bowl the cricket ...

, specializing in

off spin Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spi ...

and a member of the

Indian spin quartet The Indian spin quartet is the collective name given to the Indian cricket spin bowlers of the 1960s and 1970s: Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivas Venkataraghavan (both off spinners), Bhagwat Chandrasekhar (a leg spinner), and Bishen Singh Bedi (a l ...

. He is an alumnus of

National Institute of Engineering National Institute of Engineering (NIE) is a private engineering college located in Mysore, Karnataka, India. It was established in 1946 and granted autonomy in 2007 from Visvesvaraya Technological University. History NIE was started in 1946 ...

, Mysore.

Career

Prasanna played his debut

Test cricket Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...

match at Madras against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1961. His first overseas tour to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...

was a tough one and he did not play another Test for five years. He left the sport for a period to finish his engineering degree, returning in 1967. He gained a regular place in the side following his excellent performances in

in 1967. He retired in 1978, after a tour of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

which also signalled the decline of

Bishen Singh Bedi Bishan Singh Bedi (; born 25 September 1946) is a former Indian cricketer who was primarily a slow left-arm orthodox bowler. He played Test cricket for India from 1966 to 1979 and formed part of the famous Indian spin quartet. He played a tota ...

and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar. He twice led

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

to the Ranji Trophy, the first time ending

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

's 15-year reign. Prasanna was highly successful not only on Indian turning wickets, but on foreign pitches too. He achieved the record of fastest 100 wickets in Tests for an Indian Bowler (in 20 Tests) at his time. His record was broken by

Ravichandran Ashwin Ravichandran Ashwin () (born 17 September 1986) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian cricket team as a bowling All-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm off-break, he plays for Tamil Nadu in domestic cric ...

. Widely respected and feared in domestic cricket as well, he enjoyed bowling to batsmen that were willing to try to hit him. He had a neat, brisk, high action and marvellous control of line, length, and flight. He spun the ball in a classic high loop towards the batsman, increasing his chances of beating his adversary in the air. As a result, he made the ball bounce higher than expected. A bowler with an attacking mindset, he was also patient, and would bait a batsman for over after over, attempting to induce a mistake. He has written an autobiography, ''One More Over''.

Awards and achievements

* 1970 –

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

Award * 2006 – Castrol Lifetime Achievement award. * 2012 – Award from

Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at Cricket centre, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The BCCI is the richest governing body of cricket in the world ...

for playing more than 50 Test matches. * 3rd Cross Road in Dommaluru, Bengaluru has been respectfully named as EAS Prasanna Road

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prasanna, EAS 1940 births Living people India Test cricketers Karnataka cricketers South Zone cricketers Indian Universities cricketers Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Cricketers from Bangalore Recipients of the Arjuna Award