Hard work and experience behind my resurgence: Prasidh Krishna

Bengaluru: Gujarat Titans have one of the most formidable bowling line-ups in the IPL, featuring menacing South African Kagiso Rabada, India’s Mohammed Siraj and Afghanistan’s ace spinner Rashid Khan. Amid this star-studded attack, shinning in his own way is Karnataka’s Prasidh Krishna.

Last season, the 30-year-old upstaged all of them, bagging the Purple Cap for most wickets overall with 25 scalps. This year, he’s done well with 14 wickets from eight games. There was a time between 2022-25 when Prasidh missed a lot of cricket because of frequent injuries. Completely fit now, he’s firing on all cylinders and is eyeing a return to the T20 fold in the Indian team.

In an exclusive chat with DH, arranged by the franchise, the Bengalurean talks about his strong return, dream of playing a World Cup and how he tided through the three-year injury phase.

Excerpts:

Gujarat Titans have a potent bowling line-up, but just like last season, you've made an impression yet again. Your thoughts on cracking the international competition.

Honestly, I don't have anything to say about that. I'm just doing my job. Believe in what you have to do, and I believe in myself. Definitely when you've got great superstars around you, because they put under pressure, they put in the wickets, they do the early damage. That, maybe, helps you pick a lot of wickets and get lucky with having wickets on your side.

Since your comeback to IPL last season following a three-year hiatus due to frequent injury breakdowns, you’ve been a different bowler. What has changed?

I think it's just been a lot of hard work. You put in a lot of hours into what you're doing at practice. You're very cautious about your sleep, your meals and all of that. Just having the clarity of what is important right now, what can help you get better as a cricketer. I'm enjoying my time. Again, it’s hard work and lots of experience. I started playing cricket a long time ago, seen a lot of it and aged as well. So it's just an accumulation of all of these things.

Frequent injuries kept you out of India’s T20 set up. Now that you’re fit and doing well in this format, are you eyeing a return to the national side in the shortest format?

I'll tell you one thing, I'm looking to play very good cricket every single time I turn up on the ground, whichever team I play for. Because look, I would have loved to be a part of every single winning team. There are a lot of World Cups that we have won in the recent past, and we’ve been doing great as a team. I was lucky to be part of a few games. I wasn't a part of a few teams because somebody was better than me, or somebody just took their place when it mattered. But it's not down to me. I think what I have learned at 30 today is to make sure you enjoy the cricket that you play, make sure you're happy, and you keep the people around you happy. And then everything that has to follow, will follow.

Talking about World Cup, the ODI one is scheduled next year. Is that your major target?

I'm looking to play a good brand of cricket. Tomorrow, I am playing KKR. I don't really set goals or say, 'This is what I want to do in so many months' time or so many years' time'. I look at it as one day, now what's best I can do right now. That's exactly what I want to do.

How badly did that three-year period when you kept getting injured weigh you down? Because even Virat Kohli rated you very highly then.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. But I think I had really good people around me who did not let me be in that shell for too long. I am very optimistic, very live-by-the-day kind of a guy, so I made sure I enjoyed every single bit of it. I spent a lot of time at home. I had a lot of food at home, which I always crave for when I'm playing and I'm travelling outside. I just look at that phase as something that I had to go through to be in the place that I am in today.

In this era of ultra-aggressive T20 cricket where bowlers are reduced to just machines, how hard is it for a bowler to stay on top of his game?

Yes, it is definitely hard. No matter which era you're playing, for fast bowlers it’s always very hard. Your body goes through a lot. Your performances go up and down. But I think one thing you need to be ready for, if you want to stand out, is if somebody challenges you and says, I've already scored 200, you've got to take that challenge upon you. Get together as a team and see what we can do to prove somebody or prove the numbers wrong. It generally is about creating moments, putting in the pressure, making sure people come in together. And when there are 11 people coming together, like we do at Gujarat Titans today, it just is going to make sure everybody's performance is being valued. Everybody's performance is being given the right fruits. And then you create the performance that you can.

Gujarat, after a sedate start, are hitting the straps and peaking at the right moment. There’s a final at home too. Your thoughts.

We are very, very grateful about the form that everybody is in. Having said that, I would say that is not really form-dependent. We know that whenever we put on the t-shirt, even those sitting outside, can turn up on a given day and actually do the job for the team. That's the kind of culture that we have created. And that's only helped because you always keep trust. The trust is what has put us in a place where we are able to bring out the performances that we have.