CHENNAI: Eighty overs. 257 runs. Six wickets. It was a good old-fashioned day of Test cricket in Colombo as Sonal Dinusha (85 batting) and Prasindu Sooriyabandara (80) tried their best to defy Indian bowlers. Though they could not bundle out the hosts, Indian camp will be a happy for one reason and one person at least - Prasidh Krishna.
The pacer, who has often come under scrutiny for his lack of consistency and expensive spells, was India's best bowler on the day as he took three wickets for 47 runs in 14 overs. The next best bowler was of course Manav Suthar who took 3/87. But from an Indian perspective, the day was all about Prasidh, who showed discipline with his line and lengths. Following the wicket of Lahiru Udara late on Monday, the lanky pacer from Bengaluru removed Kamil Mishara with a short delivery that climbed on the Sri Lankan before taking his gloves. He came back again to dismiss Kamindu Mendis with another shorter delivery.
Hitting the deck hard and bowling short of lengths has always been his USP but what bowling coach Morne Morkel was pleased was how Prasidh kept the criticism and 'outside noise' out of his head. "It (the spell) showed the character of Prasidh. He has the media on his back, the commentators on his back, to fight through that.and his bowling at the moment is very impressive," Morkel said. "It' is about quieting those voices and just playing cricket. As a team, we always knew about his potential. As soon as you get into this environment, you want to impress a billion cricket fans, you are under the microscope, every movement gets analysed, and sometimes you try and fight against those elements, But Prasidh, for me, the biggest change is just to let go of all those thoughts, all those comments that are made on him.he is just enjoying his cricket."
The South African credited Prasidh for his work ethic. The Karnataka pacer had his share of preparation alongside Devdutt Padikkal at Karnataka Institute Of Cricket (KIOC) before the Sri Lanka tour. "He is an extremely hard worker, he is a guy that will do a lot of homework, going into games, doing a lot of research about opposition. So for him, he is a massive student of the game. It is just great to see him grow and develop into a world class bowler," Morkel said.
The bowling coach also explained Prasidh's approach with the ball that has often come under radar. "Look, a lot of the time it is a captain and coach's decision trying to create something if there is not much on the ball or not much happening off the surface. I think as a world class bowler, it is very important to always try and create something. Prasidh has got that extra pace and bounce, so we are going to use him in certain phases where it might be risky but we might get the reward as well. There were a lot of times, I think back in England (2025), where we had to put our hand up because we were asking the boy to do a certain job. Although the results sometimes might not go his way, the whole team is behind him. That is all that matters is how we sort of get around him when we move away and sit in a hotel to talk through those things and answer the questions that he might have and we give him clarity and confidence going into that," said Morkel.
Come Wednesday, Prasidh and the team would be hoping that he gets to complete a fifer and close out the Sri Lankan innings early in the first session.
