Exclusive: KKR paceman Prasidh Krishna reveals IPL gains on road to international success

The 25-year-old speedster Prasidh Krishna is now ready for a fresh stint when IPL 2021 gets underway on April 9 while Kolkata Knight Riders will face Sunrisers Hyderabad in their first match in Chennai on April 11.

Prasidh Krishna celebrates picking up a wicket during the ODI series against England. (Source: Twitter)

Karnataka paceman Prasidh Krishna has gone from strength-to-strength since making his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut with Kolkata Knight Riders back in 2018. But his cricketing journey began much before that after making his first-class debut for Karnataka in the 2015-16 season from where he headed to Indian cricket’s finest finishing school – MRF Pace Foundation.

The 2016-17 List A season was the breakthrough year for Krishna as he bagged 13 wickets at an average of just 16.6 coupling rapid pace with great accuracy. An IPL contract with KKR followed soon after which saw him bag 10 wickets in seven games in his debut season and brought him straight into national reckoning.

The lanky 6ft 2 paceman finally made his India debut in the recent three-match ODI series against England and his 4/54 on ODI debut became the best figures by an Indian debutant in 24 years, surpassing off-spinner Noel David’s 3/21 against West Indies back in 1997.

The 25-year-old speedster is now ready for a fresh stint when IPL 2021 gets underway on April 9 while Kolkata Knight Riders will face Sunrisers Hyderabad in their first match in Chennai on April 11. Krishna is now high on confidence after his fine showing against ODI World Champions England and can’t wait to rattle batsmen in the IPL.

“The biggest and the only lesson that I want to take from the ODIs is the ‘confidence’ that I gained. The confidence that I gained from those high-intensity games and at that ‘level’ will hold me in good stead. Leading into the IPL I have got more game ‘baggage’ compared to last year,” Krishna told Zee News English in an exclusive interview ahead of IPL 2021.

My first day at work was a roller coaster ride. Never over until it's over. All's well that ends well.

Cheers to this special match and many more to come. #TeamIndia #234 pic.twitter.com/UeRj3beDaT — Prasidh Krishna (@prasidh43) March 24, 2021

Former Assistant coach of Team India Sanjay Bangar recently revealed that Krishna has been on the national team’s radar for a while now.

“He has been considered a very good bowler in the shorter formats for a long time. When I was with the team, there used to be discussions about him as a good option,” Sanjay Bangar had said on Star Sports.

'Bowling to Eoin Morgan made things easier'

The KKR paceman might be erratic as seen during the ODI series but has a knack of picking up big wickets like those of Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow. Krishna revealed that it was nice bowling to KKR skipper and teammate Eoin Morgan in his debut series.

“It was actually nice bowling to Morgs (Eoin Morgan) because I have already bowled at him at KKR. But then I looked at it from another point of view bowling to someone you already know and practiced with, it is slightly easier,” the 25-year-old said.

Just like many other Indian debutants like Surya Kumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan among others, Krishna admits that bowling in IPL has made the transition into international cricket much more smoother.

“IPL is a really tough place to bowl. Every time you err in length you can be hit for six or four. That is why it is important to focus on the right things and execute the right balls,” the KKR speedster said.

The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t made it easy Krishna or for that matter any Indian cricketer. Krishna has gone from one bio-bubble to the next since the start of IPL 2020 in September last year.

“During lockdown (in 2020), I had some good time off from cricket which helped me recharge. When it comes to bio-bubbles all of us are grateful to play cricket and do something that we love doing. There are no complaints about the bio-bubble and just I am just loving this life at the moment,” he added.