England tested him, challenged him, and made him a hero. A month and a bit after being part of an epic Test series, Prasidh Krishna recounts the highs and the lows
Shashank Kishore02-Sep-202524:48
‘My god, that was one good series’ – Prasidh recounts the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy
Prasidh Krishna has had plenty of time to reflect on an unforgettable summer in England. Over the past month, he has swapped new-ball spells and short-ball strategies for mountain trails, hiking across Europe and unwinding with family.Now, he’s back to the grind, preparing for a busy home season. Although he isn’t part of the men’s T20 Asia Cup squad, he is expected to play a role in India’s upcoming Tests, two each against West Indies and South Africa starting in October.”I did take a week to ten days off [after the England series],” Prasidh tells ESPNcricinfo. “I was fortunate that the Mysuru Warriors [his Maharaja Trophy franchise] owner was kind enough to say, ‘You go have your time off, and when you’re back, you can get back to play’.Related
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“Even when I was on a break [after the series] – hiking and all that – I could actually feel my body hurting. I was still sore from that last Test [at The Oval] and the three hard days [during the vacation]. On the fourth day, I told myself, ‘I’m not going to do anything’. I let my wife go on her hiking trip. I stayed back for a day, and actually felt my body recover a little bit more.”Prasidh played in three of the five Tests in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, making a big impact in India’s series-squaring win at The Oval. He bowled 43 overs in the match, claiming 8 for 188 as part of a three-pronged pace attack with Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep.The performance was all the more satisfying as it came just after he’d been left out of the fourth Test in Manchester, with the team management opting for debutant Anshul Kamboj straight off a flight.”Physically, it took a lot out of me,” Prasidh says looking back at the series. “It took me about a week to shake it off. Then I came back, played a few games in the Maharaja Trophy. It felt good to go back to my state, be with my statemates, chat with the youngsters, and just get that feeling of being back in cricket again.”Once that was over, I got back to training in Bengaluru, started bowling, and we had a few [BCCI-mandated fitness] tests over the last two days. And now, this morning when I woke up, I felt really good – like, ‘Okay, I’m ready to go play some more cricket now’.”
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The English summer headed into its 25th day with its outcome uncertain. England had been cruising towards their target of 374. Prasidh should have had Harry Brook on 19 the previous day, but for Siraj stepping on the fine-leg boundary toblerones with ball in hand.India were sent on a leather hunt for much of the fourth afternoon until Prasidh brought India back with two late wickets in nine deliveries. Then, rain and bad light took the game into the final day, where England needed 35 runs, and India four wickets.Prasidh Krishna picked 14 wickets in three Tests in England•Getty ImagesPrasidh saw his first two balls disappear for boundaries. As tension gripped The Oval, the man at the centre of it all remained calm. “The first ball, I had clearly planned, was going to be a bouncer,” he remembers. “It made me feel like I could set up the over – or even the following overs – better, knowing how the bouncer was behaving. I felt that was one of my main weapons.”That ball went for a boundary, but it also helped me understand what was happening with the pitch. The second one was an inside edge altogether. Even with eight runs coming off the first two balls, I was still pretty composed. I knew I had to hit a certain area, a certain length, and let the ball do the talking.”Siraj, from the other end, started off really well. The ball was swinging – not as much for me in the first couple of overs, but it was swinging for him. So I had to pull myself back a little and ask myself, ‘Okay, what can I do now? How do I get straighter?'”The wicket of Jamie Smith changed everything. From there, it was about us being consistent in the right areas, and then it was just a matter of time before the wickets fell.”India eventually sealed a dramatic six-run win to set off wild celebrations.
“We had put in so much as a team – every single person out there – so much mental grit and physical effort to win from the situation we were in”Prasidh Krishna on India’s win at The Oval
“It was a big sigh,” Prasidh says of their triumph. “The joy, the shouting, the celebration we had right after the last wicket fell – it was all relief. We had put in so much as a team – every single person out there – so much mental grit and physical effort to win from the situation we were in.”It was just that sigh of relief saying, ‘Okay, we’ve put in so much effort’, and when you put in all that effort and actually end up on the positive side, it gives you such a sense of satisfaction. After that, we all went back, sat together, and spoke about how we did so many things right, and how it felt like we are a team that can fight from any situation we’re put into.”Prasidh says he can’t explain the feeling soon after India had won. It’s been a month, but a lot of those moments, especially on the final day, feel like a blur.”When I sit and watch the game now, it doesn’t feel the same – because being out there, the atmosphere was so good, so electric, and the joy was so immense. That’s something that will stay with me forever. I don’t think I’ll ever feel a similar moment just sitting back and watching from the outside.”
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On the second day of the final Test, Prasidh was involved in what seemed like a heated exchange with Joe Root, which needed the intervention of the umpires.Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna celebrate the win•AFP/Getty Images”I don’t know why Rooty reacted,” Prasidh said at the end of the day’s play. “I just said, ‘you’re looking in great shape’ and then it turned into a lot of abuse and all of that.”In the immediate aftermath of India’s victory, Prasidh had a chance to settle the matter with Root. And this time, things were a lot calmer.”I did go and speak to most of them – including Root,” Prasidh says with a laugh. “I asked him what happened. He said, ‘I thought you abused me’. I said, ‘No’, and he replied, ‘I actually just wanted to get myself going as well, so I had to pump myself up’.”That’s what I love about the sport – that’s the way I’ve always played it. To see everybody, and especially a legend like him, putting it all out there and fighting for the team, even today, that’s something for everyone to learn from. You’re out there to fight, to win battles. Sometimes it takes a lot more than just skill; it takes a lot of mental grit to be part of that journey.”Each of the five Tests, Prasidh agrees, was like an episode of a TV series: drama, excitement, intrigue, comebacks, heartbreaks, elation.”I don’t think any of us expected the series to go that way,” he says of each Test going into the final day. “It kept swinging back and forth and, in hindsight, 2-2, we’re really happy with how we played the whole series.Prasidh Krishna was involved in a heated argument with Joe Root on the second day of the final Test•Getty Images”The way we fought every time we were under pressure – and how, each time, someone stood up and delivered for the team – was really pleasing for all of us.”For Prasidh, England was a massive opportunity. India had announced in the pre-series build-up that Jasprit Bumrah would be available for only three of the five Tests because of workload management. Prasidh had previously been part of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, where he only got to play in the fifth Test. He hadn’t yet left his imprint as a Test bowler, and there was plenty to prove.”For me, Australia was really, really challenging mentally,” Prasidh says. “I went there to play the ‘A’ games, bowled well, was in great rhythm, and still had to wait for my chance. When I finally played [in the SCG Test], it took a lot out of me mentally. Fighting for my spot and then finally getting to start was a battle in itself.”If you’re not playing, you prepare a certain way on the outside – that’s a different challenge. Coming into England, I was in a much better place because I knew I had already handled a five-match series, both without playing and then playing.
“It is very important for both of us [Shubman Gill and him] to understand each other – for me to know what the team actually wants, why I am here, and what they want from me”
“Taking that experience forward was a different challenge again, and that brought in the physical aspect. It was very, very hard – you bowl a lot of overs, and we were playing with mostly pacers doing the bulk of the job, especially in the first and second innings. It was gruelling.”Once the series was over, it felt like, ‘Oh my god, that was one good series’.”
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The series in England, however, didn’t start all that well. At Headingley, Prasidh became the first bowler in Test cricket to go at more than a-run-a-ball in both innings (minimum 15 overs bowled in each innings). He also registered the highest match economy for an India Test bowler. Despite scoring five individual centuries, India lost.Prasidh’s economy was down to him adopting a short-ball strategy aimed at England’s lower-middle order – something that had been planned. The team management had felt that his height and high release points would make it harder for the batters to control their pull shots against the short ball.Although not entirely convinced, Prasidh did the job for the team. “It is very important for both of us [Shubman Gill and him] to understand each other – for me to know what the team actually wants, why I am here, and what they want from me,” Prasidh says. “It’s equally important for the team to understand what is the best that Prasidh can give in a given situation.Prasidh Krishna had a tough start to his series at Headingley•Getty Images”We started off knowing there would be instances where I would have to do the job the team wanted – and I took it. It was actually a first-time experience for me, where the team wanted me to do something that I wasn’t fully convinced about.”But then you have 20 people sitting outside who have a plan. We’ve spoken about it, and agreed on it. So it becomes your duty to come in and do the job for the team. I was more than happy to do it, because that’s why you play a team sport. If you only wanted to do what you wanted, you’d be playing something else, just by yourself.”It was a very good learning experience for me as well, especially in terms of communication. It got better after or during the second Test, when I actually went up and said, ‘Okay, this is the plan, but maybe we could have done something differently’. The conversations were very open, the communication was very good, even though it was a first-time experience for me.”I think we took some time but learned about each other really well.”Prasidh admits that looking at his economy rate wasn’t as much fun. “It’s never a good sight when you look at the scoreboard and see your economy rate on the higher side. It took me some time to be okay with that and to stay focused on the task at hand in that moment.”What was fun, though, was him being able to cherish moments of joy and elation with close mates KL Rahul and Karun Nair on tour.
“I think the first Test itself – that spell when I got [Zak] Crawley and [Ollie] Pope in the second innings – was very important for me. I wasn’t hitting my lengths right early on, and I was finding the wind and the slope a lot harder to handle than I ever had before”The favourite spell in England
“Absolutely, I think it makes a very, very big difference,” he says of having had the company of “friends” on tour. “It was my wife who kept reminding me, saying, ‘When you went on long tours earlier, you would always feel homesick by the end; now that you have your Bangalore boys with you, it’s much easier, you haven’t really spoken about missing home or anything this time’.”It makes a lot of difference because yes, we have played a lot of cricket together. Yes, we think alike. We even do similar things off the field, and that definitely helps. It gives you that comfort zone. And what it also does is, once you have that comfort zone, you find space to make new friends, bring people together, join different groups, and have a great time as a team.”Prasidh is spontaneous when asked to pick his most memorable spells from the summer. “I think the first Test itself – that spell when I got [Zak] Crawley and [Ollie] Pope in the second innings – was very important for me,” he says. “I wasn’t hitting my lengths right early on, and I was finding the wind and the slope a lot harder to handle than I ever had before.”That spell actually made me feel good. Otherwise, the spell I bowled to [Ben] Stokes in the second innings [in Birmingham] – I didn’t get a wicket there, but that morning when I came in gave me a bit of confidence as well.”England tested him, challenged him, and gave him a chance to celebrate. Now, back home and preparing for the Test season, Prasidh wants to carry the same fire and intensity. He is ready to embrace fresh challenges and build on his gains from a memorable IPL 2025 – where he was the purple cap winner – and, in his words, an “unforgettable English summer”.