Aakash Chopra plays down ‘Gujarat Titans lobby’ talk after Prasidh Krishna’s fifer vs Afghanistan

The 30-year-old Prasidh Krishna was the star with the ball for India on Saturday during the final ODI vs Afghanistan in Chennai. The right-arm seamer bowled 8.2 overs and picked 5/23, which helped the Men in Blue bowl out the visiting side for 218. In the end, the home team won the game by nine wickets inside 29 overs and took the series with a 3-0 margin.

Ex-Indian opener Aakash Chopra took to his YouTube Channel at the end of the IND vs AFG series and defended the bowler. Prasidh was drafted into the side after Mohammed Siraj was given a break by the Indian selectors to manage his workload. In fact, both bowlers play for the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the IPL, and there was chatter on social media regarding a GT lobby being formed with Shubman Gill as the national skipper.

Addressing this issue, Chopra said, “Prasidh was given the new ball against Australia during the Indore game in 2023, and he managed to pick wickets there as well. He didn’t get many chances to play after or take the new ball. People tend to troll and ask why Prasidh is given chances to play, and there is always chatter about the Gujarat lobby. So that you know, Prasidh is not from Gujarat; he belongs to Karnataka.”

The former opening batter also said, “Gurnoor Brar has picked seven wickets in his debut series, and Prasidh had six in his debut series (in 2021), but wasn’t given many chances after that.” Right-arm seamer’s best season in the ODI format was in 2022, where he picked 19 wickets from 11 games with a best of 4/12 vs West Indies in Ahmedabad.

Former India star praises bowler’s evolution

After the IND vs AFG game, Aakash also praised the way Krishna has evolved as a bowler. “He had said a long time ago that this Krishna will become Prasidh (Famous in Hindi), and he is bowling really well. It is never easy to take a fifer in ODI cricket, and he did that and bowled brilliantly.”

“He has good height, decent pace, sideways movement and also gets extra bounce. What stood out was his ability to bowl full and get the ball to swing. This was an important series for him as a player.” Said India’s former opener about the pacer from Karnataka who ended the series with five wickets from two games.