Prasad wants to be bowling coach

Venkatesh Prasad, who was one half of the most effective new-ball pairing that India have had in recent times, had expressed his desire to be India's bowling coach. Prasad has just acquired an advanced coaching certificate from England and, with his own playing days now firmly behind him, would love to work with the new generation of Indian pace bowlers.

Indo-Asian News Service quoted Prasad as saying: "If the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) approaches me, I would like to take up the job. If the Board considers me handy, I would love to work with the boys. There are fantastic fast bowlers in the team and it would be great working with them."

Prasad was at his best in the mid-1990s, in tandem with Javagal Srinath, his Karnataka statemate, but he was cast aside by the selectors in 2001-02 after losing both pace and efficacy. Since the switch to coaching, he admitted that he had learnt much about the mechanics that go into the making of a great bowler.

"I never knew there was so much of science involved in bowling," he said. "So much of thought goes into every action. I never understood that bio-mechanics had such an important role to play before I went to England. Now that I have learnt the art, I am ready to share it with the bowlers here."

Prasad was candid when asked about Irfan Pathan, India's new-ball hope who endured a miserable second half of the season. "He is a young lad with a lot of potential," said Prasad. "He is very talented and aggressive. But too much of media attention is being a deterrent to his budding career. After a couple of 50s, he is being projected as the next all-rounder after Kapil Dev. This creates pressure."

In his view, Zaheer Khan was still the standard-bearer for Indian pace. "Zaheer Khan is undoubtedly the best Indian fast bowler now," he said. "He is the most promising and has a great future. He has a perfect run up, a good release and perfect seam position at the time of releasing the ball."

For much of his tenure, John Wright had acknowledged the need for a bowling coach to iron out glitches in the players' actions and approach. Now, with a new coach poised to take over, the BCCI might well see the necessity of an experienced hand to guide a largely inexperienced pace attack.