Present era spinners don't attempt to take wickets: Prasanna

Not too impressed with the current lot of spinners in international cricket, the legendary Erapalli Prasanna said not a single tweaker of the present era attempts to take wickets.
"Honestly tell me, which bowler is attempting to take a wicket. I have never seen an individual bowler, especially an off-spinner in the present era attempting to take a wicket. Instead, he is attempting to hit the pad to get a leg before decision," Prasanna said.
"When a bowler is attempting to do that (get LBW), he is sacrificing his talent. If a bowler is not attempting to take a wicket, who will give you a wicket," he added.

Prasanna recalled his playing days as he highlighted the significance of aiming for wickets.
"When we were playing Test match, we believed in bowling to the field. Bishen (Singh Bedi) and Chandrasekhar were at mid-on and mid-off and within a matter of six strides, I had to think, how least the ball would go to them. What actually happened was that it developed my bowling skills.
"I had to bowl in such a way that the ball would go to the close fielders like Ajit Wadekar, Eknath Solkar. The true cricket follower appreciated the contest between the bat and the ball, which was very very important, which is not there now," he added.

Prasanna further said he and Bedi would have been successful in the shorter format of the game.

"We would have been successful, there is no doubt on that issue because we had deception on us, we had the flight. These days even when they try to flight the ball and the commentators say they toss the ball. When a ball is tossed up, you get hit. If there is deception and spin, you will win," he said.
Bedi said he did not understand the bowlers' need to experiment with the doosra and teesra.
"Cricket has a lot of social connotations. What would you call the other man in a woman's life, a doosra. If it is not acceptable socially, then why is it acceptable in the cricket field? Forget doosra and teesra, try bowling the first one properly," he said.