For Venkatesh Prasad, life has taken a brand new turn. The lanky Karnataka seamer, in internatonal wilderness for some time now, had his hopes reignited after being named in the 30 probables’ list prior to the 2003 World Cup. But it seems like the establishment in India has sent him a clear message, and he has taken the hint. He began his new career as a bowling coach with the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for a month-long camp with the under-15s recently.After the stint with the under-15s, ‘Venky’ will take charge of the under-17s and under-21s in July and August.According to Prasad, though he is still ‘‘very much active’’ as a player, ‘‘I took up the job because I had nothing to do. I had a few offers to play league cricket and also do my Level III coaching course in England, but somehow things did not click. So when the BCCI offered me this job, I thought long and hard and accepted it.’’Arriving at the decision, though, took quite some time, as Prasad was quite ‘‘taken aback’’ with the BCCI offer, which came when he was playing the Duleep Trophy. A trip back to Bangalore and a chat with Brijesh Patel, Karnataka State Cricket Association secretary, NCA director and National Chairman of Selectors, and he was ready for the job. Curiously, it was Patel, who had named Prasad in the World Cup probables’ list in January. The hopes, in the end, found expression only in the television anchors’ box, where he was drafted in as part of the SET Max troupe.And now, with the emergence a batch of new fast bowling hopes and BCCI’s move to make Prasad a coach, it is clear that the 33-year-old is not part of any future Indian cricket plans as a player. But Prasad refuses to acknowledge that his use-by date’s past. ‘‘I did not get any message of the kind when I spoke to Brijesh (Patel). The only thing I wanted to get was a clearer picture before I took the plunge.’’Prasad insists he is quite ‘keyed-up’ about his career despite closing in on 34. ‘‘Playing cricket remains my priority. I will be training with the kids and so I myself will be in shape,’’ explains an ‘excited’ Prasad, who is planning to give it one more year before making a decision. ‘‘The tour of Australia is my aim. If I can make that then it will be good. Otherwise I will have to decide.’’But Indian pace ace Javagal Srinath’s partner in prime is not willing to reveal his future plans yet and does not rule out a stint as a commentator too. ‘‘It was a good experience (as a commentator). If I have a few offers then I might take it up.’’Prasad is a qualified Level II coach, and regrets having missed out on some of the new trends in coaching like bio-mechanics and other such scientific approaches, which he says he is ‘amazed’ by. ‘‘I was lucky I went to MRF and trained with Dennis (Lilee), but these things (bio-mechanics) were non-existent. The newer generation is more lucky.’’Dwelling more on his upcoming role as a coach, Prasad says his philosophy is to ‘keep it simple’. ‘‘I do not want to change anything about the kids. Just a few tips from my experience should do the trick. Young boys should be left alone to do their own thing rather than anything being imposed on them’’. From the kids’ point of view, there will be one other thing different about their new techer — no need for them to call him ‘sir’. ‘‘They can call me anything they want — Prasad, Venky, Bhai, Paaji, Sir — whatever. Only thing is that they need to be sincere.’’
