Legendary Indian spinner Erappali Prasanna feels that the current Indian bowling attack is the best in the last 60-70 years. India’s bowling unit has five pacers with four pacers who can regularly hit 140+ and that’s why Prasanna wants skipper Virat Kohli to play five bowlers in the first Test against South Africa.

As quoted in PTI, Prasanna said, “India has one of the best attacks in the world. In fact, I don’t think the Indian teams of the past could boast of an attack like the current one. It is probably the best I have seen in the last 60-70 years.”

With India’s lethal bowling attack, Prasanna feels that they have every reason to go with five bowlers in the playing XI. However, India are likely to go into the series opener with three pacers and a spinner. He said, “I have always believed five bowlers are must if you want to win the game. The same logic which applies while picking an extra batsman should apply on the bowlers. Even if you play an extra batsman, only one or two would go on to make big scores. There is a possibility if the top five fail, the sixth batsmen will fail as well.”

He further added, “Similarly, if you do pick five bowlers, more often than not you see one or two having an off day. And for a bowling line-up to be effective you need at least three bowlers to fire all the time. So picking a fifth bowler helps in this case.”

Talking about the Indian spinners, the stalwart said, “Ashwin is an automatic selection in this case. He is good with the bat as well. I noticed during the Sri Lanka series, Jadeja was bowling like a stock bowler. He was not as effective as he used to be.”

When asked to compare the two teams, Prasanna completed refused to do that as he said, “It is a good balance side and players have a positive mindset. What I like most about this team is that they don’t fear any side. If the batters can score 350 runs consistently in the first innings, then half the battle is won.”