Let me begin by wishing my friend a happy 80th birthday! That’s as good as any achievement of his with ball in his hand. The whole world, especially those who played against him, knows what kind of a bowler Pras was. I don’t think there is any batsman who will claim that he played Pras with confidence. No one. He was an absolute magician. He was a thinking bowler and it’s my good fortune that I played a lot of cricket with him and Chandra (B S Chandrasekhar). They really gave confidence to the batsmen in their team. Of course, we played for the country a lot together, but the best part about playing for the same State was that we learnt a lot from Pras and Chandra, and we also learnt how to play top-class spin bowling.
After playing these two greats, we faced other spinners with a lot of confidence. I, therefore, credit our practice sessions, where we had a chance to face these two, for the batsmen we became – players like myself, Brijesh (Patel), (B) Vijaya (Krishna) or Sudha (R Sudhakar Rao)… Practice stints were serious business, we treated them like matches. We didn’t have open net sessions but Pras would set imaginary fields in the ‘nets’ and bowl accordingly to prepare us.
Pras was not an every-ball-wicket-taker. He would set batsmen up before delivering the killer blow. He would plot each of his dismissals and he could do so because he had the requisite variety. I am not saying every ball used to be different but the flight would differ for the same type of delivery.
Today, bowlers use technology to improve their performance, but the science behind bowlers of that generation was different. A canny bowler, Pras had great faith in his skills. I have seen him bowl and immediately start moving towards mid-on in anticipation of a catch. It’s not like he would scamper and dive, he would just jog and comfortably complete that catch.
It was almost like expecting a catch during catching practice. He knew what he was bowling and he knew exactly where the batsman was going to hit that ball.
I remember one ball he bowled that even Sunil (Gavaskar) will never forget. It was the Ranji Trophy semifinal in 1973-74 at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. People these days talk about the doosra and the teesra, I don’t want to talk about that… But this ball to Sunil was something else. It was on the off-stump line, drifted in and turned away to brush the woodwork. It was delivered with the same off-break action and I had the best view of his bowling because I was at slip. I couldn’t believe the way the ball drifted in and then broke away on pitching because from first sight, it was a totally regulation off-spinner. In the end, it didn’t turn away much, just enough to beat the bat and hit the off-stump.
As I said, his strength was variety. One of Pras’ variations was to deliver the ball off his palm. Holding the ball in your palm and releasing it with the same control was just unbelievable. It was the same as his off-break, but travelled a trifle slow.
The batsman is already committed to play in a particular way but the ball isn’t there yet. These are just a few examples I have cited to explain his genius. He is easily the best off-spinner I have ever come across. And I say that with great responsibility.
Happy birthday once again, brother; being a batsman, I wish you get to your 100!
(As told to Madhu Jawali)