Former India player turned veteran commentator Sanjay Manjrekar has defended Prasidh Krishna despite his costly economy rate following his bounce back with the ball on Day 3 of the first Test against England in Leeds on Sunday, June 22. He also said that Krishna was way better than Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur. This came as Krishna finished with the figures of 3/128 (20) in the first innings after resuming his bowling at 0/51 (9) on Day 3 as well.

Manjrekar told JioHotstar (via NDTV): “If you see Prasidh Krishna in this Test match as opposed to the Test he played for India earlier in South Africa, he has looked the best to me. Yesterday, although he did not quite get the wickets, he was still India’s number two seamer. He was better than Mohammed Siraj, certainly more potent than Shardul Thakur.”

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“So, India made the right choice and went for him; this is Prasidh Krishna doing the best he can. With time, if he gets a couple of wickets and builds confidence, he might just get better and better. I will not be critical of Prasidh Krishna with the way he’s bowled — he has done everything he possibly could to the best of his ability,” he further added.

Meanwhile, former India wicketkeeper-batter Deep Dasgupta opined on the lack of consistency from him. However, Prasidh Krishna is playing his fourth Test. He claimed eight wickets in his previous three games in the longest format.

“That has been the challenge. He has bowled good deliveries, but not consistently enough. We have always talked about Prasidh’s natural length, and especially against batters, who love playing their shots and have an array of options available to them, it becomes a little difficult. So, every now and then, you’d see him leaking runs. That is the reason you see that kind of economy rate,” he concluded.