Axar and Bishnoi played a very important role despite dew setting in, says Prasidh Krishna

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 27: India fast-bowler Prasidh Krishna praised the spin-bowling duo of Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi for changing the game in the team’s favour through their crucial scalps, especially the dew setting in during their 44-run win over Australia in the second T20I.

In defence of 235/4, Bishnoi grabbed the wickets of Josh Inglis and Matthew Short in the first four overs, before adding the scalp of Tim David to pick 3-32. Prasidh, after initially being expensive, took out Steven Smith, before castling Sean Abbott and Nathan Ellis to keep Australia to 191/9.

“For Axar and Bishnoi to bowl the way they did, they played a very important role despite dew setting in. It is how our bowling unit works, there are going to be days when some of us aren’t going to have a good day. The others step in and work selflessly. That really helped us in the second half,” said Prasidh in the post-match press conference.

He also revealed that India had been planning for tackling the dew right from T20I series opener in Visakhapatnam and added that the effect began in Thiruvananthapuram when Mukesh Kumar was bowling the eighth over.

“We were planning to tackle the dew even in Vizag but luckily we didn’t have to. Here, we were prepared, we knew that dew was going to play a huge role. It was really wet, even in the eight over when Mukesh (Kumar) was bowling, he told me there was a lot of dew. This is part of the challenge of playing in India. As a bowling unit, we need to learn to tackle it.”

“We tried a lot of things - cutters, length balls and yorkers. Slower ball was skidding through, and we executed some yorkers well. We practise putting the ball in the water, but then there’s no real game pressure at practise, unlike a match. You can’t do much about the dew, had to change a towel after just one over. So, you have to keep your cool and hold your nerves.”

Prasidh made a comeback to competitive cricket after a year’s absence due to stress fracture in the back and was a late addition to ODI World Cup squad as a replacement for Hardik Pandya. He felt the World Cup was a huge learning curve for him from information perspective.

"Being a part of the squad was massive learning for me. That's the biggest learning curve I've had since I've been a part of the team. I got to learn a lot the way people prepare, the amount of information that you can take."

"But I thought the information (got during World Cup) was too theoretical for me, as I was sitting in the dug out and speaking to my teammates. Here (in a match) it is more than theoretical, you need to be able to execute things. It took me a couple of overs (in first T20I in Visakhapatnam), but after that I was in competition mode."