Mumbai: Not for nothing is good length bowling in high demand. Almost always in Test cricket. As we saw so frequently in the recent IPL, very often with the new ball even in T20 cricket.
Prasidh Krishna with his opening burst in the Chennai ODI on Saturday made a resounding case for pitching it up in 50 overs cricket.
It’s harder to break open ODIs in the Powerplay. Even when things go horribly wrong at the start, there is always room to stage a batting recovery as the Hashmatullah Shahidi-Azmatullah Omarzai 105-run fifth wicket partnership showed.
But Afghanistan felt the aftertaste of Krishna’s sharp spell right through the sweaty afternoon at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium where their innings played out. After being bowled out for 218 in 44.2 overs, the visitors were no match for India’s batting power as the hosts raced to a nine-wicket win for a 3-0 clean sweep.
This was Shubman Gill’s first series win as captain, sealed by Yashasvi Jaiswal’s unbeaten 110 (86b, 14×4, 3×6).
One of Krishna’s persistent personal battles has been finding the right lengths. For a tall fast bowler, the Bengaluru-born has often been guilty of overdoing the short-pitched bowling. Spectacular it may look when it comes off, with shorter lengths, the risk-reward equation often goes awry in limited overs cricket.
Krishna was quick to identify the value of the slightly fuller length on a responsive Chepauk surface. It was as if he was responding after being handed the new ball with Arshdeep Singh rested. Krishna got immediate rewards as he sent the in-form Rahmanullah Gurbaz early back with an outswinger, the outside edge taken by Rohit Sharma at first slip.
Caught Rohit, bowled Krishna became a recurring theme for the rest of the Powerplay as the 30-year-old kept troubling the Afghanistan batters with a heady cocktail of bounce and accuracy. The right-handers kept trying to play off the front foot, but Krishna got them before they could. In each of his early three wickets, Rohit was his ally at first slip.
So naggingly accurate was Krishna that towards the end of his opening spell, Darwish Rasool lost his patience and tried to hit over the infield, only managing to give a catch to Shreyas Iyer, who ran backwards from cover.
Nineteen of the 30 balls Krishna bowled were pitched on a good length. They accounted for three of his first four wickets. His first spell read 5-2-6-4. He eventually finished with 5/23. Statistically, one of the best by an Indian pacer. For Krishna, often trolled for being expensive for his wickets, it was a redeeming effort.
Afghanistan skipper Shahid (102 – 131b, 13×4, 1×6) brought up his maiden hundred in his 96th outing, a testament to his perseverance – a trait that has never gone missing from the lexicon.
Once the impressive pacer Gurnoor Brar got the sixth Afghanistan wicket of Mohammed Nabi (21) at 198 in the 37th over, the visitors folded up. The last man to fall was Shahidi, making it Krishna’s first 5-wicket career haul.
Rohit-Jaiswal partnership
Afghanistan were sloppy with the ball to begin with while defending a modest 218. India’s first runs came before the first ball was bowled courtesy a 5-run penalty on Shahidi for running between the wickets on the prohibited area of the pitch.
Azmatullah Omarzai was wayward in the first over and Jaiswal capitalised, making it a 23-run over. Jaiswal was in the mood to make his chance count. Rohit Sharma was searching for runs at the start of the innings, but Farid Ahmed messed up a chance, failing to spot a mistimed cut that swerved late and went for four. You can’t keep a good man down for long.
Rohit was soon flicking Rashid Khan over mid-wicket with dexterity. It was quite a sight watching Jaiswal and Rohit punch gloves, acknowledging their half-centuries. As they grew into the partnership, they would have known that one of them may have to out-bat the other in the lead up to the 2027 World Cup.
When Rohit (79 – 69b, 9×4,3×6) was out in the 23rd over, failing to clear mid-wicket boundary, he had matched Jaiswal’s scoring rate.
Jaiswal saw the team through to complete a thumping win in the 29th over with two sixes either side of the wicket – the first six got him to his second ODI hundred and his final strike over deep mid-wicket sealed the nine-wicket win.