Prasidh Krishna who made his Test debut against South Africa in the 1st Test at Centurion, was under fire for his below-par performance as India went on to lose the match by an innings and 32 runs to trail 0-1 in the two-match Test series.
The Indian skipper, Rohit Sharma backed the inexperienced Prasidh Krishna and believes that the pacer has what it takes to play the longest format in the sport. Rohit added, “Look, a little bit inexperienced, of course, but he has got the tools to come out here and play the game. The bowlers that we have back in India, some of them are injured, some of them are not available. So we try to pick the guys who are available and we see the conditions that we are coming up against and try to pick the bowlers based on that.”
Rohit also added, “I completely agree that he has not played a lot of cricket, but there are three guys in their team as well who have not played a lot of cricket; they came here and showed what it takes.”
The skipper believes that more than experience, it is the mindset that needs to be taken care of at this stage. He added,” More than the work in the legs, I think it is in the mind. How you treat your mind and how you want to play the game is more important. If you keep thinking, ‘Oh, I’ve not played a lot of Test matches, I’ve not played too many first-class games’, it’s not going to help. When you get an opportunity, obviously you should be grateful and come out and do the job for the team.”
Reflecting on Prasidh’s debut Test, Rohit believes that it is only normal to have some nerves when you are playing your first match. The skipper praised Prasidh’s attitude so far and believes that he has the potential to excel in the format. The skipper said, “Prasidh has been with the Indian team. Not around the Test team, but he has played a lot of white-ball cricket for us in the last two or three years, and he has shown that he has a lot of potential.”
