When Prasanna and Co scripted history

It's 50 years since Karnataka won their maiden Ranji Trophy title.

Bengaluru: It’s nice of you people to remember this after all these years,” said EAS Prasanna when asked about Karnataka’s maiden Ranji Trophy triumph 50 years ago. The off-spinning great, him of sharp wit and sharper analysis, isn’t given to emotions, at least publicly. Maybe that’s the trait of engineers who turn spinners? But Prasanna’s reaction to the poser was a fair reflection of the sense of accomplishment and contentment. For a fleeting moment he sounded uncharecteristically mellow before going on to chronicle the momentous occasion.  

It had been 39 years since the launch of the premier domestic tournament in the 1934-35 season. Nine teams had won the title (three of those teams -- Nawanagar, Western India and Holkar -- are now defunct) and two of the three southern powerhouses -- Hyderabad and Madras (now Tamil Nadu) -- had laid their hands on the trophy once each already. So when Karnataka finally ended an excruciatingly long wait in the 1973-74 season, beating Rajasthan in the final in Jaipur, it was special for the Prasanna-led team for more than one reason. 

In winning their maiden title, Karnataka had ended Mumbai’s 15-year stranglehold on the trophy by besting the Ajit Wadekar-led side in the semifinal in Bengaluru. It was a seminal moment in the history of not just Karnataka but Indian cricket for the southerners had achieved what many in the country thought was unachievable. And it was only befitting that Prasanna, Karnataka’s first legendary cricketer, presided over this feat.

It’s no wonder, Prasanna devoted most of his time talking about the semifinal than the final where he played a pivotal role, claiming nine wickets for the match. Not that he had any less significant part in the semifinal win though. He bowled 63 overs for five wickets, including that of Sunil Gavaskar and Ashok Mankad who was well set on 83. 

“I think it was one of the biggest days for Karnataka cricket,” Prasanna reminisced in a chat with DH. “The final was in Jaipur against Rajasthan, but the first step to victory was beating Bombay (now Mumbai) in Bengaluru. It was a sort of stepping stone to success. Not many people gave us a chance to win against Bombay, but we did it.” 

The team under V Subramanya in the late 50s and early 60s had it in it to be a champion side but had been steamrolled by Mumbai every time it had a sniff at the title. 

“We believed we had the side to beat them,” Prasanna noted. “We had been knocking on the Ranji door for a while. We had come close to winning the title under Subramanya in 1959-60 (when Mysore had lost to Bombay in the final) and then in 1963-64 (again losing to Bombay in the semifinal)... So we knew we had it in us to win the title. I wouldn’t say I had a very strong team but together we were quite formidable. The batting was solid because we had (GR) Vishwanath, Brijesh Patel, (AV) Jayaprakash, (K) Sudhakar Rao, (B) Vijaykrishna and others. In bowling we had (BS) Chandra (Chandrasekhar), myself, Vijaykrishna and K Lakshman, the left-arm spinner. Though Lakshman was old by then, he played a cementing and supporting role for us.” 

An astute reader of the game, Prasanna attributed their superior middle-over management for Karnataka’s win over Mumbai.  

“Our middle-over management was great,” he began. “I mean the phase between post lunch and tea break which basically decides the trend of the game. We had scored about 300-odd first-innings runs (385) and even though they were about 170-odd for one or two (198/2) on the third day, between lunch and tea we controlled the game and went on to win it. That’s a crucial period and we had the bowling resources to do the job.”

When Wadekar and Mankad were threatening to overhaul Karnataka’s total, an inspired piece of fielding turned the game on its head. Sudhakar Rao had caught Wadekar short at non-striker’s end after rifling the ball from point region. There onwards, Prasanna and Chandrasekhar (4/145) struck in tandem to share nine wickets between them. That helped Karnataka restrict Mumbai to 307 and emerge winners on the basis of first-innings lead.

“I am also happy that both in the semifinal and final I was able to lead from the front. In the semifinal I claimed five wickets (5/117) and in the final nine wickets (5/56, 5/45). It was one of the glorious days in Karnataka cricket. I, on behalf of my team, feel extremely proud that we brought the Ranji Trophy for the first time to Karnataka,” Prasanna trailed off. 

The captain of the victorious Karnataka Ranji Trophy team EAS Prasanna is garlanded by Deccan Herald editor VB Menon at their office upon their return to Bengaluru from Jaipur. DH Archives