Mohammed Siraj: Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has defended Prasidh Krishna despite his costly economy rate following his fightback with the ball on Day 3 of the first Test against England in Leeds on Sunday, June 22. The cricketer-turned-commentator stressed that Krishna was way better than Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur. The remarks came as Krishna finished with figures of 3/128 (20) in the first innings after resuming his bowling at 0/51 (9) on the third day of the Test match.
Mohammed Siraj: Krishna began the day with the crucial wicket of Ollie Pope (106 off 137) before removing dangerous-looking Harry Brook and Jamie Smith for 99 (112) and 40 (52), respectively.
Mohammed Siraj: Manjrekar told JioHotstar (via NDTV):
“If you see Prasidh Krishna in this Test match as opposed to the Test he played for India earlier in South Africa, he has looked the best to me. Yesterday, although he did not quite get the wickets, he was still India’s number two seamer. He was better than Mohammed Siraj, certainly more potent than Shardul Thakur.”
“So, India made the right choice and went for him; this is Prasidh Krishna doing the best he can. With time, if he gets a couple of wickets and builds confidence, he might just get better and better. I will not be critical of Prasidh Krishna with the way he’s bowled — he has done everything he possibly could to the best of his ability,” he added.
Mohammed Siraj: Meanwhile, former India wicketkeeper-batter Deep Dasgupta pointed out the lack of consistency from the 29-year-old pacer. The 48-year-old said in the same conversation:
“That has been the challenge. He has bowled good deliveries, but not consistently enough. We have always talked about Prasidh’s natural length, and especially against batters, who love playing their shots and have an array of options available to them, it becomes a little difficult. So, every now and then, you’d see him leaking runs. That is the reason you see that kind of economy rate.”
Prasidh Krishna is playing his fourth Test. He bagged eight wickets in his previous three games in the longest format. His previous Test came against Australia, where he bagged six wickets in Sydney during the 2024/25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
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“I’d have picked Arshdeep for the different angle he offers but it’s okay, the selected bowlers are talented.”
Apart from Krishna, Shardul Thakur also leaked more than six runs per over, conceding 38 without any wickets in his six overs. Meanwhile, Mohammed Siraj returned with figures of 2/122 in his 27 overs.
