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Erapally Anantharao Srinivas Prasanna was born on 22^nd May 1940 at Bangalore. He will be turning 83 on 22 May 2023.

EAS Prasanna made his Ranji Trophy debut representing Mysore against Hyderabad at Secunderabad on 25 Aug 1961 under the captaincy of G Kasturirangan. His performance on debut with the leather was 3 for 15 in 8.3 overs of which three were maiden overs, He also took a catch in Hyderabad’s innings to dismiss S Lokender Raj for five of the bowling of Raj Gurav. Prasanna’s victims were L Mohan for 19, Wahid Yar Khan for a duck and Habib Khan for a duck. Skipper G Kasturirangan {6 for 42} and EAS Prasanna {3 for 15} skittled Hyderabad for 85 in its first innings. With the willow, batting at number eleven, EAS Prasanna scored 26 and partnered 82 runs for the last wicket with YB Patel in Mysore’s innings which folded at 319. Prasanna’s 26 helped Mysore to reach 300 plus runs. YB Patel made  101 – a century on debut. This game contained five debutants for Mysore – KR Rajagopal, A Ramakrishnappa, AV Jagannath, YB Patel and EAS Prasanna. In Hyderabad’s second innings, EAS Prasanna was amongst wickets by capturing two wickets conceding 65 runs and had impressive match figures of five for 80.

EAS Prasanna played 71 Ranji Trophy matches representing Mysore/Karnataka. He scored 811 runs which included two half centuries. He scored 81 not out against Andhra at Bangalore in 1968-69 season which remained his highest individual score in Ranji Trophy matches. With the leather, he captured 371 wickets. He has taken five or more wickets in an innings on 23 occasions and his best bowling figures in an innings was 8 for 50 against Andhra in its second innings in 1970-71 season at Belgaum.This game is one of the unique games in Ranji Trophy as rival bowlers took eight wickets in an innings. Andhra’s B Mahendra Kumar had captured eight wickets conceding 118 runs in Mysore’s innings. EAS Prasanna has captured ten or more wickets in a Ranji Trophy match on five occasions. His 12 for 109 against Andhra at Belgaum in 1970-71 {4-59 and 8-50} is his best match effort in Ranji Trophy. His farewell Ranji Trophy match was against Hyderabad in 1978-79 season at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore which had a start date of 26 Jan 1979. He captured nine wickets in the match conceding 162 runs {7-70 and 2-92}. Thus EAS Prasanna’s debut and farewell match was against Hyderabad – another rare coincidence. Prasanna has captured 25 plus wickets in a Ranji Trophy season on six occasions. His best effort in a season was in 1968-69 season in which he accounted for 39 wickets conceding 405 runs at an average of 10.38. He captured five wickets in an innings on five occasions and ten wickets in a match once. He pouched 49 catches in Ranji Trophy.

EAS Prasanna played 24 Duleep Trophy matches. With the willow he scored 248 runs at an average of 12.40. With the leather he captured 81 wickets conceding 1856 runs at an average of 22,36. He has captured five or more wickets in an innings on six occasions and ten or more wickets in a match once. He pouched 14 catches in Duleep Trophy which spanned 15 seasons starting from 1961-62 to 1978-79.

EAS Prasanna’s test debut was against England at Corporation Stadium, Madras in 1961-62 season. This test had a start date of 10 Jan 1962. EAS Prasanna made his test debut under the captaincy of NJ Contractor. His debut performance with the leather was none for 20 and one for 19.His first test wicket was England’s wicket keeper batsman G Millman whom he had caught by NJ Contractor for 14 in England’s second innings. With the Willow, batting at number eleven, he scored 9 not out in the first innings and 17 not out in the second innings. He was the second highest scorer in India’s second innings after VL Manjrekar’s 85.

EAS Prasanna played 49 tests in his career. He captured 189 wickets conceding 5742 runs at an average of 30.38. He captured five or more wickets in an innings on ten occasions and ten or more wickets in a match on two occasions. His best innings bowling effort was against New Zealand at Auckland in Jan 1976 when he returned with figures of 8 for 76 in New Zealand’s second innings. His best match bowling effort came also in this test only with figures of 11 for 140 {3-64 and 8-76}. With the willow, his highest individual innings of 37 came against England at Chennai in 1972-73, which had a start date of 12 Jan 1973.

EAS Prasnna had the record for capturing 100 wickets in least number of tests – 20 tests – to his credit. R Ashwin recently broke this record. EAS Prasanna’s last fifty wickets of this achievement came in just seven tests.

EAS Prasanna played under seven captains. He took 116 wickets of his total of 189 wickets under the captaincy of MAK Pataudi. MAK Pataudi has this to say about EAS Prasanna’s crafty spin “With Pras you can expect a wicket any where in the country. Australia’s captain Ian Chappel has paid glorious trbute to Prasanna’s art of spin bowling

Here is an excerpt from Cricket Monthly of espncricinfo.com in which V Ramnarayan has interviewed Ian Chappell

Ian Chappell regards Erapalli Prasanna as the best slow bowler he faced, and Prasanna retains healthy respect for Chappelli’s proficiency against spin. Foxed by Prasanna in the first Test in Adelaide in 1967, Chappelli held on to his spot with 151 in the following Test, in Melbourne.Prasanna was happiest when batsmen attacked him, when they left the safety of the crease to reach for the ball; Chappelli knew that decisive footwork was the key to playing spin. Prasanna, who was successful on vastly different pitches in Australia and New Zealand, says a spinner must bowl length in all conditions; Chappelli, who starred in Australia’s series win in India in 1969-70, says batsmen should always stay positive.Their undiminished confidence, vast knowledge and delightful anecdotes led to a fascinating conversation nearly 45 years after they last played against each other.

V Ramnarayan: You’ve often said Prasanna is the best spinner you faced. Would you expand on that?

Ian Chappell: The thing that intrigued me was, I felt like he was trying to get me out every ball. So that made it an interesting challenge. Here in India in ’69, the difference between Pras and Bishan [Bedi] was, Pras was trying to get me out every ball whereas Bish was trying to tire me down and wait for me to get myself out. So it was enjoyable to bat against Pras.The other thing was his ability to flight the ball. We were having a beer after play one day and I said, “You little bastard, you’ve got a string tied to that ball. Every time it leaves your hand I say, I’m going to get to this one, and I get down there, and suddenly you pull on that string and drop the ball.”A lot of people talk about the blind spot for a batsman. Tiger O’Reilly, the great legspinner, said if he can curl it into middle and leg, that’s the blind spot for a right-handed batsman. At the Brabourne Stadium in the first Test in 1969, Pras threw this one up and I came charging down the track and I thought I had it covered and I went for this big drive. And I don’t know where it went. It just disappeared and the next thing I know I heard a clunk behind me and I was on my way. Throughout that tour in ’69, Doug Walters and I used to have this ongoing discussion/argument, “Who was the best spin bowler?” And he would say Bedi and I would say Prasanna. I saw Dougie only a few weeks ago and the argument started again. Who’s the best spinner? Prasanna or Bedi? I don’t think we’re ever going to resolve that argument.

Anandji Dossa, Doyen of Statisticians in India has this to say on EAS Prasanna in Indian Cricket 1986 edition

Prasanna, Erapalli Anantrao Srinivas Prasanna born in Bangalore on 22.05.1940. Studied in National High School, Bangalore and National Institute of Engineering, Mysore. Represented Mysore Schools in All India Schools Tournament and Mysore University in Inter-University tournament. During his time considered to be the best off spinner in the world. Quickest to capture 100 wickets in tests by an Indian bowler. He accomplished this performance in his 20^th test. His last fifty wickets of this achievement came in only seven tests. Captained Karnataka State Cricket Association in Ranji Trophy 1969-70 to 1977-78. Irani Cup 1974-75 and led Karnataka Vs West Indies 1974-75. Also led Rest of India team 1973-74. Board President’s Eleven Vs MCC in 1976-77 and Dungarpur Eleven in Moin-Ud-Dowla Tournament in 1970-71. Appointed Manager of the Indian team for the World Championship of Cricket played in Melbourne 1985. Has been honoured by Karnataka State with Sports Award for the Best Sportsman in 1968. By Union Government with Arjuna Award 1969. Decorated with Padma Shri in 1970. Picked up as one of the five cricketers of the Year by Indian Cricket Annual in 1986 and also for the Special Portrait in 1986. Was an Expert TV Commentator for the test between India and West Indies at Madras in 1983-84. Author of “One More Over” published in 1977.

EAS Prasanna was one of the famed “Spin Quartet” who mesmerized the best of the batsmen across the cricketing globle with a massive 853 wickets amongst them

His first class career read thus

Batting		M	I	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	100	50	Ct
	Overall	235	275	67	2476	81	11.90	0	2	127
Bowling		Balls	Mdns	Runs	Wkts	BB	Ave	5	10	SR	Econ
	Overall	54465	2292	22442	957	8-50	23.45	56	9	56.91	2.47

Awards and achievements1970 – Padma Shri Award : 2004 – C. K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award : 2006 – Castrol Lifetime Achievement award. : 2012 – Award from Board of Control for Cricket in India for playing more than 50 Test matches. ; The road in which he lives – 3rd Cross Road in Dommaluru, Bengaluru has been respectfully named as EAS Prasanna Road