Earlier in one of our articles we talked about the bear bowling performances of Javagal Srinath and now it is time to talk about another inspirational fast bowler from India who was key to many sporting moments in cricket. Nobody can forget the way he bowled out Aamir Sohail in the 1996 World Cup Match and it is still fresh in everyone’s mind. We will talk about his records below. Venkatesh Prasad is also one of my favorite Indian fast bowlers personally.
Venkatesh Prasad played international cricket for India from 1994-2001 and in those 7 years he has made such a mark for himself that even today he is an icon for all young Indian fast bowlers. He played 33 Test Matches for India and took 96 test wickets at an average of 35.00 with 7 Five wicket hauls and 1 time he has taken 10 wickets in an innings. In ODIs he was more prominent as he played 161 ODI matches for India and he took a total of 196 ODI wickets at an average of 32.31 with 1 Five wicket haul. Let’s look at the 5 best bowling performances of this great fast bowler.
5/76 vs England (1996)
This was only the second test match that Venkatesh Prasad played in and it was at Lord’s and for him to get a 5 wicket haul and getting on the honors board is a performance worthy of this list. England were batting first and Prasad took his first Fiver and in 33.3 overs and giving away 76 runs he helped limit England to 344 in the first innings and Prasad has announced his arrival to the world in style. It was the start of a fast bowling partnership between him and Javagal Srinath.
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6/104 vs South Africa (1996)
The year 1996 was very kind to Venkatesh Prasad as he was on fire in test cricket and this performance was one of his very best but it came in a losing cause but that doesn’t diminish his performance one bit. It was at Eden Gardens and South Africa were batting first and all the other Bowlers were going for runs and Prasad took out 6 wickets in the innings and bowled his heart out for 35 overs and the damage by the South Africa batters was limited to 428 and if Prasad hadn’t taken 6 wickets then the score would have crossed 500.
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5/60 and 5/93 vs South Africa (1996)
A hat trick of bowling Performances by Venkatesh Prasad from the year 1996 and this was a one man performance from India in a losing cause yet again. Venkatesh Prasad took 5 wickets in both the innings of this test match so it has to be in this list. In the first innings he bowled 19 overs and took 5/60 and restricted South Africa to 235 and then in the third Innings of this test match he bowled almost 26 overs and took 5 wickets again giving away 93 runs and again the South Africa team were Bowled out for 259 In this innings as well.
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6/33 vs Pakistan (1999)
The fourth incredible bowling performance of Venkatesh Prasad that we will be talking about is the 6 wicket haul he took against Pakistan in 1999 and this is his best individual test bowling performance in his career. It wax the 3rd innings of this test match and India needed someone to step up and Prasad did just that and in just 10.2 overs of fast bowling he took 6/33 and Pakistan were bowled out for 286 in that innings.
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3/45 vs Pakistan (1996)
This might not be his highest wicket taking ODI performance but it is his best for a lot of people as it was the Quarter final of the 1996 World Cup vs Pakistan in Bangalore at the time. India had made 287 in the first innings and while Pakistan were going well Prasad stepped up and picked up the wicket of Aamir Sohail and this Bowled is probably the most famous bowled wicket in Indian cricket history and he took a total of 3 wickets for just 45 runs in 10 overs and India won the match by 39 runs.
Also Read: Top 5 Best bowling performances of Javagal Srinath
