Talented pacer from nowhere

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Who is he?” asked Virender Sehwag. And the same question was asked by almost everyone who was watching the Monday night IPL encounter between Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Delhi Daredevils.

Prasanth Parameswaram, the young lad from Muhamma in Alappuzha district, was the man of the match and everyone wondered where they unearthed him from. The man who knows the answer is veteran coach P. Balachandran. “Some time ago, a student of mine studying at St Albert’s College approached me after they played a match with CMS College, Kottayam. He said I must meet a guy who really impressed them with his fast bowling,” says Balachandran.

“When I saw him, he had a decent action and I insisted that he must shift to Ernakulam and train at my academy. He then joined Albert’s and for the next six years, he trained under me. So I actually picked him up from ‘nowhere’,” said the former Kerala Ranji coach.

And what did Prasanth do after his dream debut, in which he claimed the prized wickets of Sehwag and the in-form Venugopal Rao? “After the match I wanted to call Balachandran sir but it was past midnight and I wasn’t sure if he would be awake. Still I went ahead and called him. I cannot say how happy I was when he immediately answered. I had also called him up before the match,” said Prasanth on his way back from Feroz Shah Kotla. The left-arm medium pacer is a member of the Kerala Ranji team and is their opening bowler.

So before Monday’s match, did he have any inkling that he would be playing the match that night? “I was not sure. But during our nets, all the foreign players in the team had appreciated my bowling and the coach himself had shown confidence in me. It feels great to play the IPL,” said Prasanth, who is nicknamed ‘Puli’ (Malayalam for tiger).

Said Mahela Jayawardene, who was in a jubilant mood after the victory, during the post-match presentation ceremony: “For a debutant, Prasanth did not show any nerve.”

‘Puli’ seems to have made it a habit of taking two wickets on his debut. In February 2007, on his List A debut against Tamil Nadu, his figures were 10-0-53-2. On his First Class debut against Haryana in December 2009 also he took two wickets. It may have been another dream debut in IPL for Prasanth, but his humility doesn’t allow the 25 year-old to brag about his achievements.