Venkatesh Prasad was a dependable medium pace bowler for India in the second half of the 90s and developed a pretty decent fast bowling attack with Javagal Srinath, who was also his team mate for Karnataka Ranji team.
Although Prasad was not express fast, he was pretty accurate and also had a lethal leg cutter which had deceived many top batsmen from that era. Prasad finished his international career with 292 wickets (96 in Tests and 196 in ODIs) and he always kept his best for Pakistan.
Prasad became part of the Indian cricket folklore when he triumphed in the ‘Aamir Sohail incident’ during the much anticipated 1996 World Cup quarter final clash in his home ground Bangalore. But that is not Prasad’s only moment of glory against Pakistan.
In fact, Prasad has the best Test bowling average against Pakistan. In the three Test matches against the arch rivals he has 11 wickets with an impressive average of 19.09, easily his best among all the teams he has played against. His best bowling spell in the Test also came against Pakistan; a brilliant 6/33 in the memorable Chennai Test in 1999. This also included a magical spell of five wickets to reduce the Pakistan team from 278/5 to 286.
The wickets included the centurion Shahid Afridi as well as Moin Khan, Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq, and Waqar Younis. India lost that Test by an agonising 12 runs despite a valiant effort from Sachin Tendulkar.
In case, India could manage to snatch a win, this Prasad spell could have been celebrated much more in the days to come.
Prasad also delivered memorable performances against Pakistan in the ODIs to. He has played 29 ODIs against Pakistan and recorded 43 scalps with an average just below 29. After his 1996 World Cup quarter final blast, in Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo next year in a rain-affected match he took 4/17 in five overs and made Pakistan reeling at 30/5. However, the nature had the final say as the match was abandoned at that stage. The two teams met frequently in 1998 and 1999 and Prasad delivered few impressive performances.
Their next big game was during the 1999 World Cup super-six stage. By that time, Kargil war was on full swing and there were lots of tension between the two nations. For the fans nothing less mattered than a win. Prasad again delivered an inspiring performance at Old Trafford, Manchester and finished with 5/27, his best ODI bowling analysis as Pakistan were handsomely beaten by 47 runs. It was another memorable India-Pakistan clash in the World Cup and despite an early exit from the tournament Indian fans were happy to beat the neighbours and Prasad was their hero.
Prasad played his last ODI against Pakistan as well in 2000 and although it was a pretty forgettable match for team India and Prasad but he did enough to be considered a legend in India-Pakistan clashes. Later, he was also part of Indian support staff as the bowling coach during the 2007 World T20 which India won beating Pakistan in the final.