After the thrilling 2-2 draw ending of Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test series, Prasidh Krishna had an amazing summer time in England. During last month, he shuffled new-ball spells and short-ball techniques for mountain trails, hiking across Europe, making a strong connection with nature, along with his family.
Now, he’s back to the routine, busy practicing for a packed home season. However he is not participating in the men’s T20 Asia Cup, but probably he will play in India’s upcoming Tests, which are going to start in October, against West Indies and South Africa, both series consisting of two Test games.
“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.”
“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.”
During the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, the 28-year-old bowler gave an amazing performance in the deciding Test match in the Oval, where he bowled 43 overs by giving 188runs and getting 8 wickets, Prasidh played in three of the five Tests during the series.
“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’.”
During the fifth and final Test match, Indian team was on a Leather hunt on the fourth afternoon until Prasidh took two late wickets in nine deliveries and returned India back to the challenging match. Then due to rain and poor lights, the match was extended to the fifth day where England was just 35 runs away from the victory and India needed 4 wickets.
Prasidh saw his first ball go for boundaries, difficulty raised in the Oval but he was 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.”
