Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, one of Test cricket's most legendary performers, is 57 today. Chandra, who took 242 wickets in 58 Tests with a mystery mix of top-spin and legspin, bowled at a brisk pace using a right arm withered from an attack of polio as a child. He had to throw in left-handed and his batting was terrible - but his bowling could be sublime. In an exclusive interview he tells Wisden.com about his approach to bowling. "I didn't really bother about how the wicket played and how the batsman played, or who the batsman was ... I never planned anything accordingly. I just tried to keep myself cool and bowl - and if you bowl well you will get the wickets."

Chandra emerged at a great time for Indian spin bowling, alongside Bishan Bedi, Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivas Venkataraghavan. He admits that sometimes he was erratic: "If I don't bowl well it'll be trash - but if I can get my line and length properly I can trouble the best." And his best was spellbinding - he took 6 for 38 to set up India's first-ever win in England, at The Oval in 1971, and in Astralia in 1977-78 his 12 wickets at Melbourne set up their first victory Down Under too.

We also hear from Indian team-mates Farokh Engineer and Gundappa Viswanath, who says: "Anyone who says he didn't know what he was bowling is very, very wrong." And England's Dennis Amiss recalls the ever-helpful Chandrasekhar bowling to him in the nets in 1972-73 after he was dropped. Chandrasekhar and the other Indian spinners played Amiss back into form - and were told off by their manager for their pains.

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