After putting in the hard yards for almost four hours on a scorching day in Chennai, Prasidh Krishna reaped the reward for it at 5.17pm. He had Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi holing out for 102 for his maiden five-wicket haul in ODI cricket. Following some low-fives with his captain Shubman Gill, Prasidh held the ball up proudly to 21,473 people at Chepauk, including his family. He even had some fans in the 'F Lower' stands chanting his name before the sun went down.
Prasidh turned up the heat on Afghanistan's batters with his Test-match lengths on a lively, red-soil pitch at Chepauk. He used every bit of his six-foot-three-inch frame to generate extra bounce from those Test-match lengths, wiping out Afghanistan's top order. Prasidh bowled five overs in the powerplay, coming away with scarcely believable figures of 5-2-6-4.
Only Mohammed Siraj has bettered those figures for India in the first ten overs of an ODI. And globally, only seven other bowlers have taken more wickets than Prasidh in the first ten overs of an ODI.
Prasidh might not have played this game had India not rested their senior quicks, including Arshdeep Singh, in this squad. With the series already in the bag, Ryan ten Doeschate, India's assistant coach, indicated on the eve of the game that the team management was open to shaking things up and testing out some of their fringe players.
On Saturday, Prasidh grabbed his opportunity and showed the kind of impact he could create with his hit-the-deck hustle. It's a trait that could also serve India well in next year's World Cup in South Africa, especially in the Highveld, which offers more bounce than the coastal regions. That's why India are going big on taller fast bowlers and Prasidh is the most experienced among these bowlers though Harshit Rana and Gurnoor Brar offer more with the bat than him.
Prasidh's first ball to Rahmanullah Gurbaz landed on a perfect Test-match length. He got it to angle in from over the wicket and veer away sharply to hit the outside edge near the shoulder of the bat. Gurbaz jabbed at it away from his body and Rohit Sharma gobbled it up in the slips. The next two dismissals were also caught Rohit bowled Prasidh. Twenty-eight for three in the eighth over soon became 36 for 4 in the tenth, when Prasidh banged it shorter and had Darwish Rasooli top-edging a pull to mid-off.
"Initially, there was good bounce in the wicket," Gill said at his post-match press conference. "We all saw the kind of ability that he [Prasidh] has, hitting those areas and the kind of opportunities he can create. If he can keep doing that, it will be good for us [in the run-up to the World Cup]."
Prasidh was then made to work harder in the field after his powerplay shift with the ball. When Azmatullah Omarzai shovelled Nitish Kumar Reddy over midwicket, Prasidh ran after the ball in vain and looked knackered. Raghu, India's throwdown specialist, kept chasing Prasidh on the boundary line, feeding him liquids and tossing him his towel.
Once the early juice in the pitch dissipated, Prasidh showed control over his slower cutters as well. One such slower variation dealt a double-blow, ending captain Shahidi's stay and Afghanistan's innings.
Prasidh had made his ODI debut in 2021 and was in the selection frame for the 2023 ODI World Cup until a lumbar stress fracture relegated him to the sidelines. A fit and firing Prasidh is now pushing his case for the 2027 World Cup.