IPL 2020 | Knew what Rahul was trying to do so kept things simple, reveals Prasidh Krishna
Prasidh starred with the ball for KKR versus KXIP
|@ IPL T20
Kolkata Knight Riders’ Prasidh Krishna, who turned the match in his side’s favor by dismissing KL Rahul, revealed that he knew what the KXIP skipper was trying to do and so kept things simple. Prasidh further revealed that with the new ball, he felt confident bowling against his Karnataka teammates.
After a disappointing IPL 2019 campaign - where he picked 4 wickets in 11 games at an ER of 9.34 - Karnataka pacer Prasidh Krishna made his first IPL 2020 appearance on Saturday versus Kings XI Punjab, in place of Shivam Mavi. And the youngster, in his first game back, impressed instantly as he finished with figures of 3/29 to help his side clinch a tight two-run victory.
It was the youngster’s 19th over which, in fact, turned the game in KKR’s favour as with KXIP needing 20 off the final two, the 24-year-old bowled an impeccable six-run over, in which he accounted for two scalps, including the prized one of opposition skipper KL Rahul.
Recollecting the penultimate over, Prasidh, talking to skipper Dinesh Karthik post game, revealed that he had a fair idea of what Rahul was going to do and so kept things simple. The simplicity worked like a charm as eventually, the KXIP skipper dragged a low Prasidh full-toss outside off-stump onto his stumps.
“I slightly knew what Rahul was trying to do. He was waiting for a bad ball and hoping to take me on, so I tried to keep it simple. It was keeping it simple and it worked out for us,” Prasidh told Karthik in a video posted on IPLT20.com.
Both up-front and towards the back-end, Prasidh was tasked with bowling to his fellow Karnataka teammates and the youngster revealed that the familiarity factor helped him and gave him confidence.
“I was slightly confident because I have bowled a lot to them. They did hit me for a few boundaries, but I thought ‘I still hit the right areas, so credit to them for whatever runs they scored.’,” the 24-year-old said.
Prasidh’s appearance on Saturday was his first in the IPL since the game versus Mumbai Indians on May 5 in IPL 2019 and the youngster thanked his teammates and the KKR management for keeping him in good spirits even when he was out of the side. The 24-year-old revealed that the confidence instilled by the support staff helped him to excel on his comeback.
“I think it’s been wonderful (being a part of the KKR camp). Even the games I didn’t play, I had a really good time practicing. Because the staff that we have and the players, they always kept me confident. The things we were doing always gave me the feeling that I would give my best when I would play a game. So that helped me a lot.
Meanwhile, skipper Dinesh Karthik, who was adjudged Man of the Match for his 29-ball 58 and returned to form in style, claimed that he had ‘one of those days’ where everything he tried came off and expressed his satisfaction over having helped the side post a decent total.
“Today was one of my better days. Most of whatever I wanted to execute, I was able to execute. It was a critical innings as while it looked like we were going to post 140 or 150, I was happy that I was able to take the score to 165. 165 I think was par on the wicket, but the way I reacted to the balls that were thrown at me, I was feeling good,” Karthik said in the same video.
