Birmingham, June 28 (IANS) After an expensive outing in the first Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test at Headingley, India fast bowler Prasidh Krishna said he is keen to make amends in the rest of the series after admitting to not bowling the desired lengths in the opening game.

In England winning the first Test by five wickets and taking 1-0 lead in five-match series, Prasidh had a forgetful time in his first time of playing the longer format in the country. He picked up three wickets in the first innings but gave away 128 runs in his 20 overs at an economy rate of 6.4 In the second innings, he picked two wickets, but conceded 92 runs in 15 overs at an economy rate of 6.1.

“If I look at the first innings, I was a little too short then where I wanted to be, definitely 6-8 meters is ideal, and that’s what I would say. I think second innings it got slightly better because again the wicket was slightly slower. I had to pitch a few slightly behind 8 meters and then go slightly fuller when I’m trying to get a wicket. So I definitely did not bowl the lengths that I wanted to.”

“I think so – not wanting to float it up there is definitely one of the reasons. Also, it honestly took me some time to get used to the slope that side. No reasons, but I should be able to do it as a professional. But I take complete responsibility about it and maybe do it better next time,” said Prasidh to reporters in Birmingham, ahead of second Test starting at Edgbaston on July 2.

Alongside Shardul Thakur, Prasidh had the role of being the support bowler to Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, but him giving away runs aplenty meant the pressure made by senior pros just evaporated. To Prasidh’s credit, the lanky bowler is keen to address this issue.

“Every time I come out to bowl, I am definitely looking to bowl a maiden. I am not really trying to give away boundaries or anything. The outfield was fast. The lengths, lines that I bowled was not perfect, to be honest, at most times, and they took me on. Some of them were edges. Some of them, I tried bowling bouncers and I ended up giving runs. So, I think somebody in the team had to do it.”

“If I sit back and say, I want to look at my numbers, what my economy is, and not really look at the wickets, it caught me a 4 and a 6, and then, Jamie Smith got out. So, if it means that I do that and get a wicket, I am happy to do it. But definitely, every time I come out to bowl, I am looking to keep the economy rate down and build the pressure up.”

“Definitely I had a few conversations with a few of them about how this game particularly went by. I definitely would want to bring that down to whatever best I can do. I think I’m learning as well. Well, I can’t say anything. It’s up to me. It’s my responsibility to get better, and that’s what I’m trying. That’s what I’m working on. I just want to make sure I put in the right kind of work and come back here and put up better numbers,” he added.

With India set to be without Bumrah for at least two of the remaining four Tests in England, Krishna said he is aware of the opportunity to step in whenever the fast-bowling spearhead is rested. “What the culture that we guys have created is we are learning off each other, no matter who’s there, who’s around. He’s (Bumrah) been talking to all of us all though, even before coming here.”

“At least for me, I’ve been part of this team for a few years now, so the conversations are still going on. One thing you cannot get is experience, that you have to do it yourself, and yeah, I think all of us are excited.”

“If you look at the team, everybody is here, Siraj has played a lot of games, he’s going to continue playing, and then whoever comes in, or whatever happens later, it’s a great experience, and it’s an opportunity for us to be here,” added Prasidh.

He signed off by saying the dressing room environment is going fine despite a deflating defeat in Leeds. “The dressing room is still nice and happy and very, very motivated. Like I said, we came here (at Headingley) knowing what this opportunity meant for all of us. Even in that game, we might have looked quiet at some stages.”

“But I think we still had a plan. We wanted to do something and we went about doing it and we got two wickets in a cluster twice. So, that still kept the motivation going. Then, as a bowling unit, when something’s happening, we still ended up taking the new ball.”

“They needed about 20 runs with the same hope of something’s going to happen. So, we are still there believing. We made sure till the last run is scored that we were still out there and making sure they worked hard for it.”

–IANS

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