Lambasting the Board of Control for Cricket in India for 'underutilising' his expertise in grooming spinners, legendary off-spinner Erapalli Prasanna on Sunday said he joined the Indian Cricket League as he has been assured a big role in developing slow bowlers.
"When [ICL chairman] Kapil Dev spoke to me he told me that the league wanted me to fulfill one of its prime objectives - developing good spinners. I found that my objective tallied with theirs. So, I liked the idea and joined the league," Prasanna said.
Prasanna, who formed a lethal spin quartet in the 1960s and 1970s along with Bishen Singh Bedi and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Srinivas Venkatraghavan for India, has been made a member of the multi-million dollar ICL Executive Board.
Prasanna rued that his role in the Bangalore-based National Cricket Academy was only token.
"Though I'm based in the same city, my services at the NCA were utilised only upto a bare minimum," said the 67-year-old former Test cricketer, who is attached to the NCA as a bowling consultant.
"For instance, this year, I did not get to spend any day with the NCA cadets in Bangalore. My duties with the NCA this season were limited to 10 days - five days in Kolkata and five more in Nagpur," he said.
Prasanna pointed out that despite the short stints, 85 to 90 per cent of the boys he worked with have made it to the state sides. One of them, leg-spinner Piyush Chawla is currently playing for India in the one-day series in England.
"When everybody else shouted that he [Chawla] should be made to play domestic cricket for some more time, only I had contended that he needs to be utilised in the top level. And the results are for all to see," said Prasanna, who picked 189 wickets in 49 matches during a 16-year Test career.
"Despite showing results, they underutilised me. When I raised this issue, I was cold shouldered. So, I thought here is a platform [ICL] where I can dedicate myself to the job of developing spinners for India," he said.
Asked how he could hope to succeed in his mission when most of the players in the ambit of the ICL are either over the hill or members of Ranji Trophy squads, Prasanna said: "That's true. But then what you are talking of is only one step in the ladder. There are many more steps".
Famed for his mastery of flighted deliveries and an uncanny ability to outplot leading willowers even on batting-friendly tracks during his playing days, the offie said he would be given the opportunity in ICL to have long tenures with youngsters on the field.
"My job is not merely an administrative one. It involves mainly on-field work. Just wait and see".
Prasanna was apparently referring to the academy that the ICL has promised to come up with in the future.
Asked whether money was also a factor that shaped his decision to jump into the ICL bandwagon, Prasanna said "I was making money in the NCA too. And if I do a good job in whatever I do, money will automatically be there".
"But its also true that money is important. One does need money. Don't you?" he shot back.
