Venkatesh Prasad Height, Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography & More

Some Lesser Known Facts About Venkatesh Prasad

• Venkatesh Prasad is a former Indian fast bowler who dominated world cricket in the 1990s. His duo with Javagal Srinath was considered one of the most challenging bowling pairs to face for any opponent. Where Srinath was known to trouble the batsmen with his steep bouncers, it was Prasad who baffled them with his seam movements.
  

  Venkatesh Prasad and Javagal Srinath

   

• During his childhood, he used to play tennis ball cricket with his friends. He once told in an interview that his childhood days could never have been complete without it. He said,

I was always passionate about sport and Tennis Ball cricket was something I played every evening without fail, and thoroughly enjoyed it. This was probably my first memory with cricket as I was devoted to Tennis Ball cricket like one plays a match or goes for practice. My days, as a young boy, could never come to an end without it.”

• While studying in school, Prasad took to Hockey as the school didn’t have a cricket facility. It was only when he reached college that he started playing cricket. Apart from that, he also played volleyball, basketball, football, and kabaddi for his school team.

• According to Prasad, it was legendary Indian cricketer Kapil Dev who inspired him to pursue the sport. The other person who inspired him was Nelson Mandela to whom he met in South Africa for the first time.

• He nurtured his bowling skills at MRF Pace Foundation in Madras, where he perfected the outswinger delivery which is known as one of his most lethal deliveries.

• It was at the age of 26 when he got the call to play for India. But it all started at the age of 19 when he stepped out into the cricket world.

• His most iconic spell came against Pakistan when he brought them on the backfoot with his brilliant bowling performance of 5 for 27 in the 1999 World Cup while defending a total of 227 runs.

• During the quarter-final match of the 1996 World Cup, Aamir Sohail hit Venkatesh Prasad for a boundary after which Sohail sledged Prasad. Venkatesh Prasad came back strongly at the very next ball when he rattled his stumps. This came as the turning point, and Pakistan lost the game. After that match, Prasad said,
  

  I have never worried about being hit. It only fires me up, makes me want to bowl a better ball.”
  
• In 1996, Venkatesh Prasad became the first overseas bowler to take 10 wickets against South Africa in their homeland since Johnny Wardle’s 12 for 89 in 1956-57 when he took 5 for 60 & 5 for 93.
  

  Venkatesh Prasad in action against South Africa in 1996

• During Rahul Dravid‘s debut test match on 20 June 1996 at Lords, Dravid was staring at the Honour’s Board of Lord’s Cricket Ground. Suddenly, Venkatesh Prasad approached Dravid and asked him to score a century and said that he (Venkatesh) would take a five wickets haul. so that both could carve their names on that Honour’s Board. Although Rahul Dravid missed his century by just five runs, Venkatesh Prasad kept his words with the magical spell of 5 for 76 runs; it was the legendary umpire Dickie Bird’s last match.

• Venkatesh Prasad’s cricket career was a saga of injuries. He played his final match in 2001 against Sri Lanka. He was dropped after then, which made it very difficult for him to make it to the international side. In 2005, he retired from all forms of cricket.

• In an interview, Venkatesh Prasad told that he considered Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, and Sanath Jayasuriya among the best batsmen to whom he bowled in his cricket career; moreover, he considered Sanath Jayasuriya as the toughest batsman in the Asian sub-continent and Brian Lara around the world that he had ever bowled. He said,
  

  When it comes to around the world, it was Brian Charles Lara, the Trinidadian and West Indian cricketer. He’s a top-class batsman who has got plenty of records to his name. He was not a hard hitter, but he was intimidating and incredible with his skills.”

• After an inadequate performance in the 2007 ICC World Cup by the Indian team, Venkatesh Prasad was appointed as their bowling coach for the Bangladesh tour in May 2007. Earlier, under his coaching, India Under-19 had finished as the runner-up in the 2006 Under-19 Cricket World Cup.
  

  Venkatesh Prasad as an Indian Coach

• He is a gym freak who does a daily workout in the morning.

• He is considered one of the few seamers who introduced slower deliveries to international cricket.

• During his entire international cricket career, Venkatesh Prasad never opened the bowling for India.

• In March 2018, Prasad stepped down from the post of the Chief Junior Selector; however, he didn’t reveal the reason behind this step. In an interview, while talking about this, he said,
  

  Yes, I have stepped down from the post but would not like to elaborate on the reasons. It’s been an enriching and satisfying journey. I would like to thank all the stakeholders I have worked with during my stint.”

  During that tenure, he worked alongside his teammate Rahul Dravid to identify many of the rising stars of Indian cricket.

• Venkatesh Prasad acted in a TV commercial of CRED “The Vengaboys” in which his acting skills were highly appreciated by his fans worldwide. Apart from this, he also acted in a Kannada movie “Sachin! Tendulkar Alla” in 2014 in which he played the role of a coach.
  

  Cred commercial featuring Venkatesh Prasad, Javagal Srinath and Maninder Singh