80 for Prasanna: Length is mandatory, line is optional.
Cricket is littered with cliches — Most famous of them is “Form is temporary, Class is permanent”.
There is one another by the great spinner — Length is mandatory, Line is optional. I was clueless. Thanks to Harsha Bhogle, who had explained this in the book “Third Man” by TN off-spinner, Sri V.Ramnarayanan. https://www.espncricinfo.com/.../22033776/no-idea-doing-here (you can read the story here).
In short, during their 1998 tour, when Gavin Robertson was struggling against the Indians, this great maxim was delivered by the spin maestro. Then Gavin went back to the basics and achieved success.
Yes, that is the mantra behind Pras heroics throughout his career. For 11 years (though he debuted in 1962, he took a sabbatical and came back for more serious cricket in 1967), he was out thinking and outfoxing batsmen after batsmen, until he met his waterloo in Zaheer Abbas Pakistan.
My memory of hearing about him was at Chennai in 1976/7, against Tony Greig’s English team. The commentators in Tamil were weaving magic, while the maestro was spinning out the poms. strangely, I think, he was involved in a kind of match-up with Tolchard not once but twice (he was hit by the ball while fielding closely; upon second time the ball hit him and ballooned, further, the catch was completed by Mohinder Amarnath. I vaguely remember this and stand to be corrected, if required). He took 6 wickets on a spinning track. Nevertheless, the pundits praise his 6 for against Aussies in Chennai (6 for) and NZ in Auckland (8 for) as his best performances. With the other great spinners in tow, he could manage only 189 wickets.
Somewhere, I have read about his exploits against the mighty windies and in particular against the great Sir IVA Richards. King Richards went on to say, how the bowler would beat the batsman, both in the air and in the mind, using his subtle variations, with amazing control over the flight and dip. In a nutshell, the ball was Maestro’s slave, irrespective of the pitch conditions.
Dear Sir,
In the bowling, you had a good average for a spinner. In life, may you hit a century with a hale and healthy life? Thanking you for all the wonderful moments.
Your Loving Fan
