India’s Test series against England had both highs and lows, but one name that has caught attention is pacer Prasidh Krishna.Prasidh Krishna played three out of the five matches, produced one standout performance, but also faced sharp criticism.
Until the last five days of the long and arduous tour of England , Prasidh Krishna was the answer to the pub-side trivia A) Who is the first bowler in Test cricket to bleed more than run a ball in both innings? B) Who owns the highest match economy for an India Test bowler? The heartless meme-troll world celebrated the failure of Prasidh Krishna. A series that began on a catastrophic tone, an embarrassing statistical millstone, a frank admission of his listlessness, and the tedium on the bench, has ended on a redemptive note for Prasidh Krishna.
Prasidh Krishna could be fodder to cruel humour until someone emerges with more disfigured numbers, but the last five days of tour would have felt like liberation, an unburdening of all the accumulated angst and doubts. Bouquets would be showered on Mohammed Siraj, confetti popped on Shubman Gill and maybe a fizz of champagne splashed on Gautam Gambhir.
But Prasidh Krishna could reflect satisfactorily on the spirited support shift, a haul of eight-fer, he put on in Oval, the match-defining wickets as well as take the learnings from his longest streak of Tests. The toil could at least buy him a few more Tests.
Prasidh Krishna’s journey in England tour is a topsy turvy tale of success
Prasidh Krishna has rough edges. Like several tall bowlers, he is prone to bowling too short too often. It is a paradox, when the greatest gift is also the biggest enemy. Height, and the discomfiting bounce he could generate, can make batting an ordeal. But the failure to harness his ferocious strength, that is by erring on the shorter side, on flat and modestly fast England decks, and over-compensation in the form of half-volleys, can bleed a torrent of boundaries.
Prasidh Krishna leaked 69 fours and eight sixes, that is nearly one of eight balls. Like the first ball he bowled on the fifth day, a short-ball filth that Jamie Overton slugged to the fence. He is not the first tall bowler who has experienced this frustration. His own bowling struggled to direct the venom of his bounce at the start; as did his predecessor Ishant Sharma.
But throughout the carnage of runs plundered, Prasidh Krishna also illustrated the reason the team management has invested in him, those that once made Virat Kohli tweet about his “X factor”. Whenever he bowled a yard fuller, he not only purchased movement, but also extra lift and skid. Jamie Smith would confess.
He tried to crunch him on the rise, rose with the height of the ball, but still could not ride the bounce and ended up missing the ball altogether. And not to forget he might have killed the contest pretty early on day 4 itself when he had Harry Brook heaving to long-leg where Siraj fluffed it. A shorter, but not quite a rank-short one, ball hurried into Zak Crawley’s pull in the first innings at Oval. It was only a few centimetres, but the impact was markedly different, and vicious.
When Prasidh Krishna hits that length, batsmen become wary of driving him and so even when the ball is there to be driven they often fail to get fully forward, bringing the edge into play.
They are caught in a dilemma, as Jamie Smith was in the first innings, square-driving a ball that bounced more than he had judged, and Joe Root in the second innings when he tried to glide the ball past gully but with static feet and heavy hands, unusual of England’s talisman. A trifle fuller, he nips the ball devilishly into the right-hander. Then tall seamers tend to avoid the fuller length, because they risk floating the ball up when striving to bowl fuller.
Prasidh Krishna , who took 4/126 from 27 overs in India’s defense, was the pick of their bowlers in the first innings. Prasidh Krishna latter was once again entrusted with the task after he was expensive at Headingley and Edgbaston.Prasidh Krishna gave India a crucial breakthrough after England were cruising on 129/1. He dismissed Zak Crawley, Smith, Overton, and Gus Atkinson. Prasidh Krishna took 4/62 in 16 overs.
Prasidh Krishna finished with 8/188, now his best match figures in the format.The Indian seamer, who made his Test debut in 2023 against South Africa, now owns 22 wickets from six Tests at 34.36. His economy rate (4.72) is on the higher side. During the Oval Test, Prasidh Krishna also completed 100 wickets in First-Class cricket, where he averages 23.70.
Following his resurgenge in the Oval test, the lanky tall pacer received all the accolades from Former Indian bowling coach Bharat Arun who at the same time slammed the team management for not utilising Prasidh Krishna in a proper manner during the English tour.
Former Indian bowling coach Bharat Arun does not think Prasidh Krishna as a talented bowler even after successful 2025 English tour
Former India bowling coach Bharat Arun has hit out at the Indian team management for their handling of Prasidh Krishna in the India vs England series. Prasidh featured in 3 out of the 5 Tests, picking up 14 wickets. After a tought start, the Karnataka pacer bounced back with 8 wickets in India’s sensational win at The Oval. Krishna’s efforts helped his side to level the Anderson Tendulkar Trophy.
Former bowling coach Bharat Arun has now spoken strongly about the way Krishna was used and also questioned his overall execution in English conditions.
Bharat Arun felt that Krishna did not adjust his bowling lengths correctly in the first Test at Headingley. The pacer stuck to short deliveries, which England’s batters handled comfortably, and India eventually lost that match. Bharat Arun explained that in English conditions, good-length deliveries are the key, but Krishna’s plan went the other way.
“Let’s take Prasidh as an example. In the first Test against England, everybody felt that he bowled too short, and those were not the lengths to be bowled. In the next Test in the second innings, he made the adjustment. He came back to bowling good lengths, the right lengths in England, and when he realised that he was dropped from the next match. In all fairness, I can understand he was dropped because Bumrah came in the next game.”
According to him, a bowler who can deliver consistently at 140 kmph already has the natural talent, but without the right lengths, that advantage is wasted.
“When Anshul Kamboj flies from India, and when you already have somebody who has played two Test matches, who is in England with the team, and who is capable of bowling 140 clicks, there was enough time for you to work on him and get his lengths right in England. Prasidh Krishna was, I wouldn’t say, he is a very talented bowler. Somebody who can bowl 140 clicks consistently is a talent. The choice of length was wrong, which could have been worked on.”
Anshul struggled on debut and India conceded the Lord’s Test, losing by 22 runs. Shubman Gill and Gautam Gambhir turned to Prasidh for the final Test and the Karnataka star delivered. The 30-year-old picked up 8 wickets, partnering well with Mohammed Siraj.Despite the setbacks, Krishna bounced back in style. He delivered a match-winning spell at The Oval, claiming eight wickets and playing a key role in India’s comeback win.
His performance was crucial in helping India level the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. Yet, Arun’s point was that such a turnaround could have happened earlier had the management trusted him at the right time.
“Prasidh had realised his mistake and just about when he was bowling well, unfortunately he had to be dropped. You don’t coach the sport as such, you coach the person and you coach the thought process. If the process changes, automatically he is going to be bowling there and to match that. If Prasidh had been empowered on his lengths which I thought he came back and bowled well would have been the obvious choice for the Lords Test match,” Arun added.
Prasidh Krishna is 29, not young any more, an age when bowlers mature and peak, patience would soon wear thin. But if he is groomed smartly and his frame does not wilt, he could enjoy a late spring like Ishant enjoyed towards the tail-end of his career.
As much as the gifts of his physique, the strength of his mind too stands out. Few bowlers recover from the spate of injuries, from stress fractures to quadricep tears, he had suffered in the last few years, just when he seemed ready for Test cricket. Months of rehab cost his game that could have developed him into a rounded, worldly-wise operator. Fewer still would have recovered from bashings in the first Test, the crude humour on social media and still made a decisive impact in squaring the series.
In Oval, too, there were times he was hideously erratic, when the English bowlers feasted on him. But he showed the wherewithal to fight back, to not lose his head, to try still and wait for the kiss of life. So much so Prasidh Krishna would take the trivia jokes in a light-hearted vein.
Also Read: ENG vs IND : Shubman Gill Appointed Test Skipper For Red Ball