Few Indian off-spinners have enjoyed as much success as Harbhajan Singh did in the recent series against Australia. That spectacular 32- wicket achievement in a three-Test rubber still does not make him the best bowler of his type India has ever had, though all of us hope he will get there soon.

That honour should go to Erapalli Prasanna, the man rated by many as the best in the world in his time. Considering that his career coincided with those of several fine exponents of his trade like Lance Gibbs, his own colleague Venkataraghavan and the likes of Fred Titmus of England, that makes him very special.

The tubby little man had a nice springy run-up and a perfect side-on delivery and fingers that could impart vicious spin. Short of stature, Pras kept the ball in the air longer than his taller rival Venkat, sowing doubt in the batsman's mind as to its course in the air and off the pitch. His most infuriating quality from a batsman's point of view was the tendency of the ball to drop just short of the spot where you expected it to land, and then turn and bounce awkwardly. He was no Muralitharan, for the Sri Lankan is unique in the use of his wrist, and the unusual amount of deviation of his wrong 'un away from the right hander, but Pras had an effective floater that fooled many a top batsman. Of course, his variations and his persistent leg-and-middle line, did pose quite a few problems to left-handers, though in this respect, Venkataraghavan was perhaps even more effective, with his quicker pace and probing line. Both were very good on good wickets, but also exploited turners well.

I watched both these bowlers at close quarters, as an opponent in the Ranji Trophy and from the reserve benches in the South Zone squad. I found them to be proud cricketers who went into any match with the total confidence that they had worked on their basics to perfection.

Another truly great Indian off spinner belonged to an earlier era. I watched Ghulam Ahmed in a Test match, when I was barely nine, but his charismatic presence and big-spinning ways made a tremendous impact all the same. My Hyderabad captain Jaisimha placed Ghulam in the same class as Prasanna, rating him even higher in some ways. He spoke of the buzz the ball made as it travelled from Ghulam's hand towards the batsman.

Two younger teammates of mine, Shivlal Yadav and Arshad Ayub, of contrasting styles, were both very combative cricketers. Yadav, in particular, earned the respect of the top batsmen of the day, and this could not have been easy, as he, with Dilip Doshi, stepped into the breach caused by the exit of the famous trio. He flighted the ball in the classical tradition, while Ayub was quicker through the air.

There were some fine off spinners in that era who did not get to play for India, but would have walked into most other Test sides. The last of them was Kanwaljit Singh whose career was overshadowed by two other Hyderabadis. Young Harbhajan Singh compares favourably with the greats of the past in the amount of spin and bounce he generates, and his ability to come back from rough treatment, as we saw in his conquest of the marauding Adam Gilchrist, not long ago.

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