Venkatesh Prasad, along with statemate Javagal Srinath, formed India's new ball attack in the late 1990s. A lanky pacer, Prasad had the ability to move the ball both ways and also possessed a variety of slow cutters, which proved to be effective in the ODI format. He made his Test debut in 1996 and had a steady career for the next 5 years. He performed best under helpful conditions abroad; he had 5 wicket hauls in South Africa, England and West Indies. However, his best performance came in the docile pitch at Chennai in 1999, where he picked 6 for 33 in the 2nd innings against Pakistan. It also included a terrific spell of 5 for 0, which brought Pakistan's innings to an abrupt end. Injuries and dip in form in the 2000-01 season cost Prasad his place.

With the growth of Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra in the 2000s, Prasad found it difficult to come back to the national side. He announced his retirement in 2005, and started taking up coaching assignments. He was the coach of the India U-19 side which became runners up in the 2006 World Cup. Post the Greg Chappell era, Prasad was appointed India's bowling coach in May, 2007. He worked well with a young pace attack and tasted tremendous success, including Test series wins in England and New Zealand, an ODI series win in Australia and a successful campaign at the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa. He was credited for the development of promising pacer Ishant Sharma, and worked well with fast bowling mainstay Zaheer Khan. However, he lost his job after India failed in the T20 World Cup and the Champions trophy in 2009. He worked as the bowling coach of the Chennai Super Kings and was part of the team when they won the trophy in 2010.

Interesting fact:

Prasad's most famous moment came in the 1996 World Cup quarter finals. After hitting Prasad for a boundary, Sohail taunted the bowler and openly sledged him, but found his stumps rattled the next ball. The wicket turned out to be a turning point, as Pakistan went on to lose the game.

By Karthik Lakshmanan