After a day of Test cricket at The Oval, Indian bowler Prasidh Krishna spoke about sitting out two Tests after his earlier poor showing at Leeds and Birmingham. He said he was happy to sit out if it helps him improve. Krishna’s four wickets along with Mohammed Siraj saw England’s batting collapse from 142/2 to 215/7 on the second day of the fifth Test here. He started the series poorly, taking just six wickets in four innings and conceding 331 runs in the first two Tests which led to him being dropped for Lord’s and Manchester. In those two games he tried bowling short balls as the team wanted but it didn’t work out.
About not playing in those two games, Krishna said, I think I’m here because I can do what the team needs me to do. The team is backing me and playing those two games let me reassess my approach and improve.
If I can bowl better even a little bit when I’m not playing I’m okay with that. Every time I’m on the field I’m here to do my job for the team. If I’m asked to do something specific and get criticized for it that’s alright. Praise and criticism depends on how well you do but for me it’s more about the process.
In three Tests so far Krishna has taken 10 wickets at 39.30 with his best being 4/62.
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England asked India to bat first and they were all out for 224. Karun Nair (57 off 109 balls, 8 fours) and Washington Sundar (26 off 55 balls, 3 fours) had a 50 run partnership for the 7th wicket which was the most important part of the innings. Gus Atkinson (5/33) and Josh Tongue (3/57) were England’s best bowlers. In England’s first innings Crawley (64 off 57, 14 fours) and Ben Duckett (43 off 38, 5 fours 2 sixes) added 92 runs. After both openers were out the batting collapsed due to Krishna (4/62) and Siraj (4/83). Harry Brook (53 off 64, 5 fours 1 six) scored a fifty but England were all out for 247, a lead of just 23 runs
At the end of the day India were 75/2 with Jaiswal (51*) and night-watchman Akash Deep (4*) not out. They are ahead by 52 runs.
