Venkatesh Prasad names best India captain he played under, it's not Tendulkar or Ganguly

Former Indian pacer Venkatesh Prasad on Wednesday said the best captain he played under was Mohammad Azharuddin. Prasad, who recently appeared on the YouTube show The Grade Cricketer, said that Azhar was the captain he was most comfortable playing under during his seven-year-long international career. Prasad, who has played under the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, heaped praise on Azharuddin, saying the former Indian skipper used to trust him with setting his own field, which brought some of his best performances on the field. 

"I can be very diplomatic here. I can easily say that 'look, everybody is different in their own way'. But I was always comfortable when Azhar was the captain because he used to just throw the ball at you and would ask what field do you want. And when I set a field, I own the responsibility to bowl to that field, isn't it? So that's how it was. It was not as if I was uncomfortable playing under Sachin or Ganguly, it's just that my best performances came while playing under Azhar's captaincy. Also, Azhar happens to come from Hyderabad and It isn't very far from Karnataka so we knew each other very well," Prasad said.  

Prasad on Kohli & Sachin

When asked to compare the on-field behaviors of Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar, Prasad said both characters are really different and equally important for the game to "flourish". Prasad said Sachin was more of a player who never showed emotion, whereas Virat would pump his fist or probably stare down the bowler after hitting a six.   

Prasad also talked about other things, including his latest advertisement for the CRED application. The fast bowler is part of the famous 'Venkaboys' advertisement, where he features alongside teammates Jagaval Srinath, Maninder Singh, and Saba Karim. Prasad played for India between 1994 and 2001, during which he appeared in 33 Tests and 161 ODIs. Prasad has 96 wickets in Test cricket and 196 wickets in one-day internationals. After retiring from cricket, Prasad went on to take several coaching responsibilities. He was the bowling coach of the Indian team from 2007 to 2009.

(Image Credit/: ANI/PTI)