IPL 2025 | Prasidh is quietly confident about 'home' surface

Bengaluru: Prasidh Krishna insisted that his knowledge of the surface at the M Chinnaswamy stadium will hold him in good stead when Royal Challengers Bengaluru take on Gujarat Titans on Wednesday, but lent the sentiment some caution, insisting that execution - not just the planning - will be the key. 

Prasidh, who is a regular with Karnataka’s state side across formats, was in fine fettle for the Titans in the previous game, picking up the player of the match award for figures of 2 for 18 from his quota of four overs. 

“It’s great to come back home and play where I have grown up,” he said in the pre-match press conference on Tuesday. “Of course, mine and (Mohammed) Siraj’s knowledge of this venue will come in handy when we play tomorrow, but in this tournament all those plans might have to change because of the speed at which the game is being played.”

Speaking of the speed of the game, Prasidh also brought up how the game evolved during his time away from the game due to injury. 

“I have been away for a few years now (between 2022 and 2025) and suddenly the game was just different from when I last played it,” he observed. “Thankfully, I have been playing cricket regularly these days and when I get the chance to play, I have done well. Also, my body seems to be listening to me and is doing what I have wanted it to do so that’s nice.”

Meanwhile, RCB’s director of cricket Mo Bobat wore a rather relaxed look during the press conference, save for when the conversation about the scheduling of their side’s matches came up. Even former RCB player AB de Villiers lashed out at how much the team has to travel this season. 

“You just deal with the schedule that you get given,” he started. “I think the challenge for us scheduling-wise is probably the amount of travel that we’ve got. So we’ve actually got quite a laid-back and quiet start and quite a nice relaxed end. But the middle is very congested. I think from after this game onwards we play something like seven games in 22 days with seven travel days. That’s a very hectic schedule.”

“So, I’m more interested in how we keep the boys fresh through that period and keep playing the way we want to play,” he added. 

As for the Impact Player rule, Bobat opined that while the rule could hamper the growth of all-rounders for Indian cricket, it bodes well for RCB.  “It brings an added excitement, clearly, for the audience. I think it also makes sure that games stay live for longer, which I think is useful. And I think that also is relevant here, where I think games stay live for longer because you can chase quite a lot in the end,” he said.