Pacer Prasidh Krishna registered the best figures by an Indian pacer at Chennai’s iconic Chepauk Stadium on Saturday, also becoming the first Indian to take a five-wicket haul at the venue. During the third and final ODI against Afghanistan, Krishna was on absolute fire in the powerplay, taking four wickets, and got the final wicket of centurion Hashmatullah Shahidi to bundle out the innings. The wicket of the Afghanistan skipper earned him his first-ever five-wicket haul in ODIs with figures of 5/23.
His 5/23 are the best figures by an Indian bowler at the Chepauk Stadium, with the previous best being 5/51 by West Indies’ Ravi Rampaul against India back in the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup and by Pakistan’s Aquib Javed’s 5/61 against India in 1997.
The only other instance of an Indian bowler picking a 4-fer in Chennai ODIs was Ajit Agarkar’s 4/34 vs England in 2002. Legendary bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah or Ravichandran Ashwin also failed to pick up a five-wicket haul at the stadium.
Speaking after the match, Prasidh said, “Honestly, that is really helpful when you have some real good bowlers alongside (Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada, Ishan Sharma etc in the Gujarat Titans set-up. You keep learning from each other. There is always competition in the net. So that is what keeps you going when you have the right kind of group around you. You always push each other to do better, and I think that has paid off.”
On the tactics that he has involved in his bowling, he said, “I think it is just that trying to hit the lengths as a team, whatever we discuss, whatever the tactic is. We just sit and think about the game and what is needed, and it is like homework for me.”
Krishna admitted that after getting a four-wicket haul, he wanted to bowl an extra over immediately, but he told himself that there was still a lot of time left, having taken four wickets in the powerplay phase itself.
“But then I came back in, and I saw, look, four wickets, five wickets, I am definitely happier with the five, but if I had not got it, I am sure we would still end up on the winning side. So I am happy with that,” he added.
Krishna has also registered his name amongst the elite company of Mohammed Shami (against New Zealand in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023) and Manoj Prabhakar (against Sri Lanka in Hyderabad in 1994) as the third Indian bowler to dismiss each of the top 5 batters of the opposition in an ODI.
Now in 25 ODIs, Krishna has taken 45 wickets at an average of 25.77 and an economy rate of 5.91, with three four-fers and a five-wicket haul, with best figures of 5/23.
Coming to the match, Afghanistan won the toss and opted to bat first, with Krishna reducing Afghanistan to 36/4 in the powerplay. A 105-run stand between Azmatullah Omarzai (50 in 56 balls, with five fours and two sixes) and the skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi (102 in 131 balls, with 13 fours and a six) brought Afghanistan back into the game. However, after Omarzai’s dismissal, Indian bowlers kept striking regularly, but Shahidi managed to bring up his maiden ODI century, with Afghanistan skittled out for 218 runs.
Prince Yadav, Gurnoor Brar and Harsh Dubey also got a wicket each.
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