Ranking Venkatesh Prasad’s top 3 performances in ODI Cricket 

Former Indian fast bowler Venkatesh Prasad will celebrate his 55th birthday this Monday.  The Karnataka-based pacer was one of the most potent weapons for India during his 7-year stint under Mohammad Azharuddin and Sachin Tendulkar. By the time Sourav Ganguly took over, Prasad saw his career end in 2001. 

In the mid-1990s Venkatesh Prasad formed a lethal bowling partnership with fellow batsman Javagal Srinath. It was at the same time that Karnataka also had two other pacers Dodda Ganesh and David Johnson who went to play for India. 

Venkatesh Prasad played a total of 161 matches and picked 196 wickets. He is still one of the top wicket takers for India in the ODI format. His nagging length and ability to swing the ball had the best batters in the business in trouble. 

Here are the top 3 best performances by Venkatesh Prasad in ODI Cricket

3- 4/23 vs Kenya – Kolkata -1998 

It was the final of the Tri-Series which involved India along with Kenya and Bangladesh. The final match of the series was played against Kenya after India suffered a shock loss to the same team at Jodhpur. Venkatesh Prasad decimated the Kenyan batting unit to bowl them out for 196. His wickets that day included Ravindu Shah and Maurice Odumbe followed by Asif Karim and Martin Suji. 

2- 4/27 versus South Africa – Mumbai -1996

India batting first had posted a massive 267 on the board thanks to 114 by Sachin Tendulkar. Ajay Jadeja then took over and scored 54 runs from 44 balls with 2 fours and 4 sixes. Venkatesh Prasad struck when he dismissed Gary Kirsten for 1 and then went on to dismiss Hansie Cronje and Herschelle Gibbs before getting his 4th wicket in the form of Paul Adams. 

1- 5/27 vs Pakistan – Manchester -1999

At the height of the Kargil War, India and Pakistan played a high-intensity game during the 1999 ODI World Cup. India batted first and scored 227 on the board with Rahul Dravid and Mohammad Azharuddin scoring fifties. Pakistan were pegged back by Venkatesh Prasad who picked his only ODI fifer. His first wicket was Saleem Malik for 6 and then got Saeed Anwar for 36. This was followed by the wickets of Moin Khan for 34 and Inzamam Ul Haq for 41. The match ended with the wicket of Wasim Akram who was caught by Anil Kumble to give their third ODI World Cup win against Pakistan. 

Also read: Top 3 bowling performances from SL vs IND 1st ODI