How Prasidh Krishna refined his bowling skills to become IPL 2025's Purple Cap frontrunner

Indian Express

16-05-2025

Prasidh Krishna couldn't have chosen a more ironic nickname than 'skiddyy' for his Instagram profile. Ask any batsman who has fronted up to Prasidh, they will tell you what surprises them the most is the bounce he generates. At 1.88m, he is unique among Indian seamers. Having spent a major part of the last three years in and out battling injuries, there were concerns whether Indian cricket would ever get to see the real potential of Prasidh. And after biding time to regain full-fitness, the 29-year-old is beginning to live up to the promise. As the Indian Premier League resumes on Saturday, the Gujarat Titans pacer is the frontrunner in the race for Purple Cap with 20 wickets from 11 matches.
Without being rapid, Prasidh has the skillset to make things happen. This season, Prasidh has also come across a more refined bowler. 'What he has done in IPL is he has really improved his length. And he has understood his bowling and the sense of how much to use his variations with clarity,' says Mansur Ali Khan, the bowling coach of Karnataka, who has seen Prasidh since the time he came into the state fold. 'See, those lengths. Actually, he was a little bit behind. But, he started working hard on those lengths, which is important in T20s. When you are hitting the run-up if you are confused, they say just bowl the hard-length ball which is 7-8 metres from the batsman. And Prasidh naturally hits those lengths consistently,' Mansur adds.
When GT shelled Rs 9.50 crore on Prasidh at the auction, several eyebrows were raised. With Rajasthan Royals being the lone other team interested, it appeared a gamble. Prasidh, with his injury history, hadn't featured in the previous two seasons. But Gujarat, like Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, have shown the vision to look beyond recent trends and at the big picture. In 2021 and 2022, Prasidh had 12 and 19 wickets to his name respectively and despite having Mohammed Siraj and Rashid Khan as strike-bowlers, Gujarat looked at Prasidh as another wicket-taking option.
In fact, in the lead up to the 2023 World Cup, India were pinning their hopes on Prasidh to be their strike force in the middle-overs. It is what GT see in him too. When it comes to operating in the middle-overs, only a few pacers are adept at it and Prasidh ticks that box as a hit-the-deck bowler. Among Indians there is none apart from Hardik Pandya who naturally hit the back of the length which is considered hardest to get away. And with his height, Prasidh also manages to extract more bounce, which makes it all the more challenging for batsmen to control their shots.
It means, in a season where Rashid Khan hasn't been at his absolute best, opposition haven't been able to score freely in the middle-overs. Out of the 11 innings he has bowled, in seven of those he has gone at an economy of under 7, which is considered the gold standard in IPL. For a team that alternates between red and black soil pitches for their home games depending on the opposition, in Prasidh they have a seamer whose bowling is surface agnostic. A majority of his 20 wickets have been caught by fielders, with the ball hitting the top-half of the bat in most instances. It is a testament to the lengths he hits.
To become more rounded, Prasidh has also added the slower ball variations to his armoury. With an open-chest action, he has also has managed to keep it discreet, with the grip changing only at the point of release and thereby giving batsmen less time to pick it up. Though he did have the slower ball before, Mansur says Prasidh has added the off-cutter in recent times. 'Everyone will have a slower ball, but its strength is how well one bowls it. He had it earlier, but now I would say it is perfect because he has mastered it. Moreover, he is using at the right moments and not over-bowling it,' Mansur says.
Given Prasidh's solid performance in Australia earlier this year in the last Test, he will be part of the pace pack that India will carry to England for the five Tests. For someone who had the in-swinger early on his career, he lost it a bit as he chased the out-swinger. According to Mansur, Prasidh had put extra attention to get that back for the simple reason he didn't want to be one-dimensional. 'With Prasidh, there is always the hunger to learn and perform at the highest level. Before the Australia series, he came to our (Karnataka) nets and was bowling like he was bowling to the Australia top-order. Planning-wise, he has always been exceptional. To get the in-swing he bowled a lot with the tennis ball before moving to double-colour balls and the soft cricket balls. He would be a good addition in England,' Mansur adds.