Former Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) coach Tom Moody has questioned the Gujarat Titans’ (GT) decision to open the bowling with the pacer Prasidh Krishna in the IPL 2025 Eliminator against the Mumbai Indians (MI) as well. He said the move was a tactical error. However, MI beat GT by 20 runs in the IPL 2025 Eliminator in Mullanpur on Friday, May 30.

During a discussion on ESPNcricinfo, Moody said: “Opening the bowling with Prasidh Krishna was a tactical error. He has spent a majority of the season as an impact bowler in the middle phase of the game. There’s only been two occasions when he has bowled two (overs) in the powerplay in the whole season. He’s been most effective with that hard lengths in the middle phase where he’s got the protection out there square of the wicket.”

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The veteran further added that Gujarat played into MI’s hands by allowing Prasidh to bowl against players like Jonny Bairstow and Rohit Sharma, who enjoy the back-of-the-length deliveries and took on him very well.

“To expose him to two players like Rohit Sharma and Jonny Bairstow, who love that back of the length line, they can get back and pivot and pull the ball comfortably, it’s right in their wheelhouse… [They could have tried] left-arm spin early on. With Washington Sundar coming in, it would have made a lot of sense and would have been something they [MI openers] possibly wouldn’t have been expecting,” Tom Moody concluded.