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Stints to Australia with legendary Jeff Thompson, the reason behind Prasidh Krishna's rise
Apart from IPL and India’s fine domestic structure, what has played a major role in shaping Prasidh Krishna as a fast bowling prospect for India for the future, are his stints to Australia with the legendary Jeff Thompson.
Prasidh Krishna’s impressive debut left the cricketing world in awe. The Karantaka pacer, playing his first ODI, became the first Indian to claim more than three wickets on ODI debut and in the process recorded the best figures by an Indian playing his maiden ODI. Krishna picked up four wickets for 54 runs in the first ODI against England, playing a crucial role in India’s 66-run victory in Pune.
Krishan, who first burst onto the scenes in IPL 2018, after Kolkata Knight Riders signed him up as a replacement for the injured Kamlesh Nagarkoti, always had that extra pace to trouble the batsmen. But what he showed against England on Tuesday, was maturity and adaptability beyond his age.
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Apart from IPL and India’s fine domestic structure, what has played a major role in shaping Krishna as a fast bowling prospect for India for the future, are his stints to Australia with the legendary Jeff Thompson.
He took up the game at the age of 11 and enjoyed stints in Australia with the legendary Thomson, the pace icon that many bowlers have grown up wanting to emulate.
It was in 2017 when, as part of the IDBI Federal Bowling Foundation, Krishna travelled to Australia along with Tushar Desphande and two others to train with Thomson.
According to Makarand Waingankar, a former cricket administrator and columnist, the training at the Cricket Australia Academy in Brisbane proved extremely beneficial for Krishna.
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"The exposure Prasidh Krishna got at the CA Academy stood him in good stead and helped improve his skills," he told PTI.
Waingankar was all praise for the lanky bowler's "cricket intelligence" and said it was evident in how he bounced back after being hit for runs in his first three overs in international cricket.
"He is very intelligent...I am talking about his cricket intelligence. This helped him bounce back after a tough start when he was taken apart by the England openers.
"This showed the boy's character," the veteran columnist added.
M Senthilnathan, head coach at the MRF Pace Foundation where Krishna had trained, echoed similar views and said the bowler improved leaps and bounds since he was picked up in 2017 through his hard work and impressed on his ODI debut.
"We selected him in 2017. He had done well for Karnataka in a game against the touring Bangladesh 'A' side in 2015 and that got him noticed.
"After he came to the MRF Academy we worked on his physical side, he did gym work and we worked on his skills. He works very hard on his game," he added.
Also, learning from the great Glenn McGrath at the Academy helped a lot, Senthilnathan, a former India under-19 captain, said.
Krishna also went to the CA Centre of Excellence in Brisbane in 2019 as part of MRF Pace Foundation's MoU with Cricket Australia.
The academy head coach hailed Krishna's mental strength which helped him fight back after a tough initiation into international cricket.
"The beauty is that he came back very strongly after being hit...He fought back, stuck to the basics and did not over-try which brought him success," Senthilnathan added.
Krishna's father was a cricketer too and played for the college team.
"Prasidh started playing at the age of 11 and did well in school cricket as an all-rounder. At the age of 14 he became serious about fast bowling. The family has supported him in his endeavours," Krishna Senior said from Bengaluru.
"He is a huge fan of Brett Lee and likes to bowl fast and with fire like him. And, he loves masala dosa," he added, fondly revealing his son's favourites.
(With PTI inputs)
