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India have always featured prominently in any discussion about spin bowling, but never was this emphasis on spin greater than in the 1960s and 1970s, when four of their most celebrated slow-bowling exponents played together. There were high-quality spinners from India before – Subhash Gupte scalped 149 wickets at 29.55, and was rated better than Shane Warne by no less a player than Garry Sobers; Vinoo Mankad snared 162 at just over 32 and also contributed mightily with the bat; while Bapu Nadkarni was the king of thrift, taking 88 wickets and conceding 1.67 runs per over. However, when Bishan Bedi, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, Erapalli Prasanna and S Venkataraghavan broke into the team in the 1960s, they established such a hold over the Indian bowling attack that for the next decade and more they became the core of the bowling unit, in all countries and conditions, to such an extent that India’s seam and swing bowlers became almost redundant.

It was a diet by spin for opposition batsmen, and yet there was plenty of variety in the menu to choose from. Bedi was the classical left-arm spinner with a smooth action and fantastic deception; Chandrasekhar was as unorthodox as Bedi was orthodox, bowling sharp topspinners, googlies and legspinners at almost medium pace; Prasanna and Venkataraghavan were both offspinners, but while Prasanna was guileful and crafty, Venkat was accurate and relentless. Together they defined the Indian bowling attack, on turning tracks at home and in seaming conditions abroad.

The overall stats for three of those four spinners are pretty similar: Bedi led in terms of matches played, wickets taken and bowling averages, but Chandrasekhar and Prasanna weren’t far behind. Venkat’s stats suffered in comparison to the other three – he averaged less than three wickets per Test – but his career economy rate of 2.27 shows he was tough to score off.

Chandrasekhar’s average was slightly higher than Bedi’s, but his strike rate was easily the best among them all. At his best he was probably the most unplayable of them, and he was the only one among the four who averaged more than four wickets per Test. India didn’t win too many overseas Tests during that time, but when they did, Chandrasekhar had a significant role to play in each: in five overseas wins he took six in an innings five times, and averaged 17.14.

Career stats of India’s four spinners

BOWLER	TESTS	WKTS	AVE	SR	5/10	W/T
Bishan Bedi	67	266	28.71	80.3	14/ 1	3.97
BS Chandrasekhar	58	242	29.74	65.9	16/ 2	4.17
Erapalli Prasanna	49	189	30.38	75.9	10/ 2	3.86
S Venkataraghavan	57	156	36.11	95.3	03/ 1	2.74

Apart from Venkat, the other spinners did pretty well overseas too. Chandrasekhar, Bedi and Prasanna all averaged less than 34 in away Tests, which is significantly better than India’s top spinner today: Harbhajan Singh’s away average is 38.83. The only bowler among the quartet who didn’t have much success abroad was Venkat, averaging more than 44 and taking only one five-for in 25 Tests.

The four spinners, home and away

BOWLER	HOME	WKTS	AVE	AWAY	WKTS	AVE
Bishan Bedi	30	137	23.99	37	129	33.72
BS Chandrasekhar	32	142	27.69	26	100	32.66
Erapalli Prasanna	22	95	26.94	27	94	33.85
S Venkataraghavan	32	94	30.64	25	62	44.40

Between December 31, 1966 and the end of 1978, India played 68 Tests, of which at least three of these four spinners played in 55. (In one Test, against England at Edgbaston, all four played but India lost by 132 runs.) In the 55 Tests, India’s record read thus: won 14, lost 25, drew 16. It doesn’t look all that imposing, but it’s a whole lot better than India’s Test record before they came along: in the 12 years before these four started playing together, between the beginning of 1955 and the end of 1966, India had won only seven out of 56 and had lost 19. The win-loss ratio thus changed from 0.37 to 0.56, an improvement of 51%.

Among those 14 wins were some pretty significant ones. In 1971, they won a Test in the West Indies for the first time, and followed that with their first win in England. On both occasions they won the series. The win in Port-of-Spain in 1976 is remembered mostly for the run-chase of 403, but the spinners did their job too, with Chandrasekhar taking eight wickets in the match and Bedi five. In Auckland in 1976, Chandrasekhar and Prasanna combined to take 19 wickets in the match as India won by eight wickets. And then there were the two wins in Melbourne and Sydney in 1977-78 – albeit against a depleted Australian team – which brought India back in the series after they lost the first two Tests. Overall, of the 14 Tests that India won, six were overseas.

India, before and during the spin quartet

PERIOD	T	W/L/D	W/L	BLG AVE
Jan 1955 to 30 Dec 1966	56	07/19/30	0.37	36.41
At least 3 of spin quartet	55	14/25/16	0.56	32.86

During this period when the spinners were in full flow, the role of pace in the Indian bowling attack was reduced to a bare minimum. In the 68 Tests between 1967 and 1978, spin contributed 766 wickets, an average of more than 11 per match. No team came close to that average, with Pakistan’s 6.46 being the next best. Spin also contributed almost 78% of the wickets that Indian bowlers took during this period.

Team-wise stats for spinners in Tests between Dec 31, 1966 and Dec 31, 1978

TEAM	T	SPIN W	AVE	Sr	5/10	SPIN W/T	TWKTS
India	68	766	30.58	77.8	42/ 4	11.26	0987
England	112	575	29.10	81.0	26/ 6	05.13	1755
Australia	91	417	34.71	88.0	12/ 1	04.58	1509
West Indies	76	364	39.02	105.6	14/ 0	04.79	1148
Pakistan	46	297	32.09	79.7	11/ 2	06.46	0637
New Zealand	54	204	40.53	101.3	04/ 0	03.78	0725

And in the 55 matches when at least three of them played together, their numbers were pretty identical to those listed above – an average of about 11 wickets per match and 30 runs per wicket.

India’s bowling when at least three from the spin quartet played

T	SPIN W	AVE	SR	5/ 10	SPIN W/T	TWKTS	%AGE
55	635	30.60	76.8	35/ 4	11.54	786	80.79

The four Indian spinners were among the best during this period, but there were a few others who were in that bracket. England’s Derek Underwood led the way in terms of both wickets and averages, taking 264 at an excellent rate of 24.34 runs per wicket. Bedi was next in terms of wickets, but Ashley Mallett, Australia’s offspinner, had excellent numbers too, averaging less than 28 for his 125 wickets. West Indies’ Lance Gibbs was the other offspinner in this list, taking 172 wickets in 47 games.

Spinners in Tests between 31 Dec 1966 and 31 Dec 1978

BOWLER	T	WKTS	AVE	SR	05/10
Derek Underwood	72	264	24.34	70.3	16/ 6
Bishan Bedi	64	259	28.52	80.0	14/ 1
BS Chandrasekhar	46	199	29.39	63.4	15/ 1
Erapalli Prasanna	47	185	30.16	75.3	10/ 2
Lance Gibbs	47	172	33.22	99.6	08/ 0
Ashley Mallett	35	125	27.95	73.0	06/ 1
S Venkataraghavan	35	99	35.39	93.4	02/ 0
Intikhab Alam	30	98	32.63	75.6	05/ 2

Playing four spinners in the same XI wasn’t a luxury India could afford, though, so three in the side was the staple. Here’s a look at how the spinners and the team fared when various combinations of three spinners played.

Bedi, Chandrasekhar and Prasanna

In the 24 Tests that Chandrasekhar, Bedi and Prasanna played together, India won seven and lost 12. Four of these wins were in two five-Test series when India fought back from 0-2 deficits to draw level, only to then lose the final match. The trio helped India beat West Indies in Kolkata and Chennai in the 1974-75 series, before they lost the last match in Mumbai, while that sequence of results was repeated in Australia in 1977-78 – wins in Melbourne and Sydney to draw level, followed by defeat in Adelaide to lose the series.

Among the three bowlers, Chandrasekhar and Bedi had identical numbers, taking just over 100 wickets at excellent averages. Chandrasekhar’s best was in that Melbourne game, when he took figures of 6 for 52 in each innings to finish with match figures of 12 for 104 – his best in his 58-Test career. Bedi took two six-fors as well, but in two matches, and with hugely contrasting results – 6 for 71 against England in Bangalore in 1977 (a match in which Chandrasekhar took six as well), and 6 for 226 in the Lord’s drubbing in 1974.

Among the three, the bowler with the least impressive stats in these 24 Tests was Prasanna, with only 61 wickets at an average of 40. His only five-for was against West Indies in that Chennai Test in 1974-75. And six times he finished wicketless in an innings despite bowling 20 or more overs.

Overall, in the 24 Tests that all these spinners played, they accounted for 266 out of 346 wickets taken by the Indian bowlers – a percentage of 76.88.

Tests that Bedi, Chandrasekhar and Prasanna played together

BOWLER	T	WKTS	AVE	SR	05/10
BS Chandrasekhar	24	103	27.81	060.1	08/01
Bishan Singh Bedi	24	102	28.34	071.7	05/00
Erapalli Prasanna	24	061	40.01	101.8	01/00
Together	24	266	30.62	074.19	14/01

Bedi, Chandrasekhar and Venkataraghavan

Bedi, Chandrasekhar and Venkat played together 18 times, and of those Tests, India won four and lost seven. A couple of those wins were especially famous: in 1971 at The Oval, India won a Test, and a series, for the first time in England; and in Port-of-Spain in 1976, India chased down 403, at the time the highest fourth-innings total in a win.

Among these three, Chandrasekhar was again the bowler who was the most influential in the two wins: at The Oval his 6 for 38 destroyed England in their second innings, while in Trinidad his 6 for 120 kept West Indies down to a manageable 359 in their first innings. Overall, though, Bedi was the most successful in these 18 Tests, with 85 wickets at 24.96. Venkat played a strictly supporting role in most of these matches, taking only 39 wickets at more than 40 each. Overall, these three bowlers took 208 out of 262 wickets taken by all Indian bowlers in the 18 Tests.

Tests that Bedi, Chandrasekhar and Venkataraghavan played together

BOWLER	T	WKTS	AVE	SR	05/10
Bishan Bedi	18	085	24.96	074.2	05/01
BS Chandrasekhar	18	084	29.25	065.3	06/00
S Venkataraghavan	18	039	43.82	118.8	00/00
Together	18	208	30.22	079.01	11/01

Bedi, Prasanna, Venkataraghavan

Prasanna didn’t do too well when he played alongside Bedi and Chandrasekhar, but his performances lifted when Venkataraghavan was around. In 13 Tests that he played with Venkat and Bedi, Prasanna took 61 wickets at less than 28. Venkat himself didn’t do too badly: though he took only 41 wickets, his average was the best among the three. Bedi was relatively less successful in terms of wickets, but his economy rate of 2.04 runs per over was the best among the three.

In these 13 Tests, India won only two and lost seven. One of the wins was against West Indies in Port-of-Spain in 1971 – Sunil Gavaskar’s debut Test. The three bowlers together picked up 145 wickets out of 181 that the Indian bowlers took – a percentage of 80.11.

Tests that Bedi, Prasanna and Venkat played together

BOWLER	T	WKTS	AVE	SR	05/10
S Venkataraghavan	13	041	27.19	068.8	02/00
Erapalli Prasanna	13	061	27.86	067.5	04/01
Bishan Bedi	13	043	34.11	100.0	02/00
Together	13	145	29.53	77.6	08/01

And finally, a look at the batsmen who excelled against India during this period. No one dominated them like Zaheer Abbas on India’s tour to Pakistan in 1977-78. In five innings his scores read thus: 176, 96, 235*, 34*, 42. In fact, that series hastened the end for the three spinners who played in that series: Chandrasekhar averaged 48.12, Bedi 74.83 and Prasanna 125.50. Prasanna didn’t play any Tests after that, Chandrasekhar played five and Bedi six. Venkataraghavan was around for much longer – till 1983, but in his last four series he wasn’t much of a force, averaging more than 50 in each of them. In fact, in his last 14 Tests he managed only 23 wickets.

The era of the four Indian spinners ended with a bit of a whimper, but while it lasted it was glorious.

ARTICLE COURTESY – S RAJESH OF CRICINFO.COM

Bhagwat Subramanya Chandrasekhar (informally Chandra; born 17 May 1945) is an Indian former cricketer who played as a leg spinner. Considered among the top echelon of leg spinners, Chandrasekhar along with E.A.S. Prasanna, Bishen Singh Bedi and Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan constituted the Indian spin quartet that dominated spin bowling during the 1960s and 1970s. At a very young age, polio left his right arm withered. Chandrasekhar played 58 Test matches, capturing 242 wickets at an average of 29.74 in a career that spanned sixteen years. He is one of only two test cricketers in history with more wickets than total runs scored, the other being Chris Martin. He was awarded the Padmashri in 1972

Chandrasekhar was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1972; in 2002 he won Wisden’s award for “Best bowling performance of the century” for India, for his six wickets for 38 runs against England at the Oval in 1971.

Chandrasekhar was born in 1945 in Mysore, where he had his primary education. He developed an early interest in cricket watching the playing styles of Australian leg spinner Richie Benaud. An attack of polio at the age of six left his right arm withered. At the age of 10, his hand had recovered and Chandrasekhar started playing cricket.

By that time his family relocated to Bangalore and he got an opportunity to play for “City Cricketers”. In an interview, Chandrasekhar stated that he joined up mainly to get a chance to play with the leather ball.  While playing on the streets of Bangalore, he had mainly used a rubber ball. While playing for the club, Chandrasekhar tried different bowling styles that also included fast bowling.  It was in 1963 that he decided to play as a leg spin bowler. His idea proved to be right as he was soon selected for the national side.

Making his Test debut for India against England at Bombay in 1964, he collected four wickets in the match. He was named the Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year the same year. Chandrasekhar was influential in setting up India’s first victory in England when he picked up six wickets for 38 runs at The Oval in 1971; the bowling was named the “Indian Bowling performance of the century” by Wisden in 2002. Wisden noted that, “Chandrasekhar was wonderfully accurate for a bowler of his type, and his extra pace made him a formidable proposition even on the sluggish Oval pitch.” His consistent bowling performances in 1971 earned him being named one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1972.

In a Test against New Zealand in 1976, Chandrasekhar and Prasanna took 19 wickets and were crucial in setting up India’s win. Attributed to him is a famous umpire-directed quote, made during a day of bad decisions in New Zealand after several of his lbw appeals were given not out: “I know he is bowled, but is he out?” Chandrasekhar also played a major role in India’s victory in Australia in 1977–78. During that series he became the first bowler in test history to register the identical figures in a same test (6 for 52 in both innings).

Chandrasekhar had minimal batting skills, finishing with a Test average of 4.07. He was given a special Gray-Nicholls bat during the 1977–78 Australian tour with a hole in it to commemorate the four ducks he scored, and he has 23 Test ducks to his credit. He also holds the dubious distinction of scoring fewer runs (167) off his bat than wickets (242) taken in Test cricket; the only other cricketer with this distinction over a significant Test career is New Zealand fast bowler Chris Martin.

Honours and recognitions

Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year in 1964

Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1972

Padmashri in 1972[14]

Arjuna Award in 1972[15]

V Kohli and SPD Smith notched four hundreds each in this series to provide the first ever occasion of rival batsmen scoring four hundreds in a series constituting a world record

No	Batsman	Runs	Opp	Ground	Series
1	V Kohli	115	Aus	Adelaide	2014-15
2	V Kohli	141	Aus	Adelaide	2014-15
3	V Kohli	169	Aus	Melbourne	2014-15
4	V Kohli	147	Aus	Sydney	2014-15
No	Batsman	Runs	Opp	Ground`	Series
1	SPD Smith	162*	Ind	Adelaide	2014-15
2	SPD Smith	133	Ind	Brisbane	2014-15
3	SPD Smith	192	Ind	Melbourne	2014-15
4	SPD Smith	117	Ind	Sydney	2014-15

V Kohli and SPD Smith notched four hundreds each coupled with 600 plus runs aggregate in this series to provide the first ever occasion of rival batsmen scoring four hundreds coupled with 600 plus runs in a series constituting a world record. V Kohli totalled 646 runs while SPD Smith aggregated 769 runs and both scored four hundreds in the series

V Kohli and SPD Smith scored three hundreds each in this series while leading their respective sides to provide the very first occasion of rival captains scoring three hundreds in a test series which is a world record.

No	Batsman	Runs	Opp	Ground	Series
1	V Kohli	115	Aus	Adelaide	2014-15
2	V Kohli	141	Aus	Adelaide	2014-15
3	V Kohli	147	Aus	Sydney	2014-15
No	Batsman	Runs	Opp	Ground`	Series
1	SPD Smith	133	Ind	Brisbane	2014-15
2	SPD Smith	192	Ind	Melbourne	2014-15
3	SPD Smith	117	Ind	Sydney	2014-15