Former Indian fast bowler Venkatesh Prasad played his career under the leadership of Mohammad Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar. Prasad was known for his accurate line and length and relied on swing in the early overs. The fast bowler didn't bowl at a great speed but he bowled accurately to get his wickets.
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Meanwhile, Prasad picked Mohammad Azharuddin as the one captain under which his best performances came for India. In fact, Prasad made his International debut under the leadership of Mohammad Azharuddin and finished his career under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly. The medium-pacer from Karnataka also played under Sachin Tendulkar's leadership.
Prasad played under the captaincy of Azharuddin between 1994 to 1996. The lanky paceman feels Azhar was able to get the best out of him and gave him the freedom to set his own field. "I can be very diplomatic here. I can easily say that 'look, everybody is different in their own way'. But I was always comfortable when Azhar was the captain because he used to just throw the ball at you and would ask what field do you want. And when I set a field, I own the responsibility to bowl to that field, isn't it? So that's how it was," Prasad said on The Grade Cricketer Podcast. Prasad added it wasn't the fact that he didn't enjoy playing under Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly but he shared a good bonhomie with Azharuddin. "It wasn't as if I was not comfortable with Sachin or Ganguly either but I guess my best performances came when Azhar was the captain and that's how it was. Also, Azhar happens to come from Hyderabad and Karnataka and Hyderabad aren't very far so we knew each other very well. We used to play against each other, also together when there were zonal teams. So that's how the rapport and understanding were much better," Prasad added. Prasad scalped 196 wickets in 161 ODI matches whereas he snared 96 wickets in 33 Test matches in his International career.