Padmanabhan Prasanth during a practice session. Photo: By Special ArrangementPadmanabhan Prasanth was in for a rude shock when the Kerala team for this Ranji season was announced. The experienced left-arm spinner, who is also a capable bat, was shown the door by the selectors who preferred young Akshay Chandran over him. Prasanth watched young left-arm tweaker K. S. Monish pick up a bagful of wickets on helpful tracks, while Akshay took four wickets from as many matches and scored 91 runs as Kerala failed to make it to the quarterfinals. The 30-year-old trained hard and was determined to prove a point when the opportunity came in the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day championship and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy National Twenty20 Championship. Prasanth, who had an impressive outing in the Hazare Trophy, was Kerala's trump card in the Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
The Thiruvanathapuram player took 14 wickets from nine matches at an excellent economy rate of 5.60 as Kerala narrowly missed out on a final berth. With the IPL players' auction scheduled to take place in Bengaluru on Saturday, Prasanth is nurturing hopes of being picked up by one of the eight franchises to play in the prestigious league. Prasanth spoke to Onmanorama over the phone from Pune about his career and dreams.
Prasanth has undergone trials for Rising Pune Supergiants and Royal Challengers Bangalore and sounded confident of getting the nod in the auction. “I had trials with RCB in Bengaluru on Monday and did well. Daniel Vettori (RCB head coach and former New Zealand left-arm spinner) oversaw the trials. I flew to Pune and had another trials on Tuesday. Pune coach Stephen Fleming was there to supervise the practice match. I am hopeful of getting a chance to play in the IPL this season,” said Prasanth.
He has played in only one IPL match despite being a part of Kochi Tuskers Kerala and later Sunrisers Hyderabad. Prasanth was smashed by Australian all-rounder Shane Watson for three sixes in the only over he bowled for Tuskers against Rajasthan Royals in the 2011 edition. “I was told only at the last minute that I was going to play that game. Also I was fairly inexperienced at that time. Now I have got more exposure.”
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Prasanth's consistency can be gauged from the fact that he is the top wicket-taker in the Mushtaq Ali Trophy, with 63 wickets from 43 matches - ahead of Indian leg-spinner Amit Mishra, who has 53 scalps from 36 games. He is eager to make a comeback to the Kerala Ranji squad. “I am only 30 and this is the age where spinners mature. I am very optimistic about my chances. Someone like Pawan Negi has made it to the Indian team based on his performances in the IPL, unfortunately for me I did not get a chance after that sole opportunity against Royals.”
Prasanth rates his spell against Baroda in the Super League as his best in the recent Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign. “I dismissed Hardik Pandya, who is an explosive T20 player. The Baroda team had a powerful batting line-up (with the likes of Pandya, Yusuf Pathan, Deepak Hooda and Irfan Pathan) and to return figures of 2/15 was impressive.”
Prasanth also shone with the bat in the Baroda game, smashing two consecutive sixes off former India pacer Munaf Patel to set up a memorable win in the company of Raiphi Vincent Gomez. “When I was dropped from the Ranji team I trained hard under the guidance of Biju George (who is also star batsman Sanju V. Samson's coach). Biju sir worked on my batting. Often in T20s, you are required to do the job at No. 7 or No.8 and I am glad I delivered.”
Prasanth feels mixing it up is the key to success in the shortest format of the game. “It is very important that you bowl aggressively in T20s. It is not just about containment. You should bowl in a nice rhythm and vary your pace. Giving no width to the batsman is another key area,” added Prasanth as he chases big dreams.
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