India is as strong as the Australian team: Prasanna
Former Indian Test star Erapalli Prasanna said on Friday that the Indian cricket team was as strong as
the Australians and an interesting duel is on the cards when the two clash in three Test matches and five one-dayers on
their 54-day tour of India.
Prasanna, who is here to play for the Cricket Club of India (CCI) Invitation Eleven vs Izingari (the oldest club in
England) in a friendly match, said that our team is definitely not weak compared to the Australians and India
has a good chance of winning both the Test series as well as the one-day series.
"I personally feel that the present Indian team is quite
strong despite the absence of leg spinner Anil Kumble (who is
recuperating from a shoulder operation)", Prasanna added.
The Karnataka stalwart, who claimed 26 wickets against
the Aussies at home in 1969-70, said he would like to see
Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly come in at number three in the
batting order.
"I think a left hander has to come in early to counter
attack as our past success against the Aussies revolved around
the batting which gave our spinners enough runs on the board
to do their job".
"Even in 1969-70 series we had had another left hander,
Ajit Wadekar, coming in at number three position" he said.
"Off spinner Sharandeep Singh could develop into a good
spinner for the future", Prasanna said.
"Sharandeep's entry into Test cricket (Nagpur Test
against Zimbabwe) has been interesting and I hope he does well
against the Aussies as well. I spent about ten days with him
at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore and I am
glad that it has paid off to some extent," Prasanna said.
Prasanna along with Bishen Singh Bedi and Srinivasan
Venkataraghavan played for the CCI Eleven while another former
great Bhagawat Chandrashekar watched the match from the
sidelines because of a foot injury caused by a serious road
accident ten years ago.
Chandrashekar said he was happy to be at Brabourne
Stadium, where he bowled the Indian team to victory against
Tony Lewis' Englishmen in the last Test ever played here in
1972-73.
"Though it is difficult to predict the outcome of the
India vs Australia series I would not call the Indians as
underdogs," he added.
Chandrashekar said the decline of quality spinners in the country was part of a
cycle and it was just a matter of time before India produced quality spinners again.
"Australians may have won 15 Tests in a row and we may
have a great record at home but the one who plays well on the
day will finally triumph".
Mail Cricket Editor