E. A. S. Prasanna

Erapalli Anantharao Srinivas "E.A.S." Prasanna (Kannada: ಎರಾಪಳ್ಳಿ ಅನಂತರಾವ್‌ ಶ್ರೀನಿವಾಸ್‌ ಪ್ರಸನ್ನ)pronunciation(born 22 May 1940) is a former cricket player from Bangalore. He was a spin bowler, specializing in off spin and a member of the Indian spin quartet. He is an alumunus of National Institute of Engineering, Mysore.

Prasanna played his debut Test cricket match at Madras against England in 1961. His first overseas tour to the West Indies 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 England in 1967.

He retired in 1978, after a tour of Pakistan which also signalled the decline of Bishen Singh Bedi and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar. He twice led Karnataka to the Ranji Trophy, the first time ending Bombay'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 .

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.

• 1970 - Padma Shri Award
• 2006 – Castrol Lifetime Achievement award.
• 2012 - Award from Board of Control for Cricket in India for playing more than 50 Test matches.

• "Padma Awards Directory" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 April 2009. Retrieved 26 November 2010. 
• "E Prasanna Profile". 
• "E Prasanna: A mystery spinner". 
• "Making the ball talk". 
• "Master of flight and turn". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 30 April 2000. 

• Player profile: Erapalli Prasanna from ESPNcricinfo
• CricketArchive: Erapalli Prasanna