IND v SA 2025: “He is not extremely skilled…,” Kaif’s scathing assessment of Prasidh Krishna after flop show in Raipur ODI
Team India suffered a four-wicket defeat in the second ODI against South Africa at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Raipur on Wednesday (December 3).
Asked to bat first, the Men in Blue racked up 358/5 in their allotted 50 overs on the back of centuries from Virat Kohli (102 off 93), Ruturaj Gaikwad (105 off 83) and stand-in skipper KL Rahul’s unbeaten 66 from 43 balls.
In reply, the Proteas rode on Aiden Markram’s ton (110 off 98) and crucial contributions from Matthew Breetzke (68 off 64), Dewald Brevis (54 off 34) and Corbin Bosch (29* off 15) to overhaul the target with four wickets as many deliveries to spare, leveling the series 1-1.
As the hosts failed to defend a formidable total, former cricketer Mohammed Kaif made a scathing assessment of Prasidh Krishna’s skills. The lanky pacer was taken to the cleaners by South African batters as he conceded 85 runs in 8.2 overs for two wickets.
“Prasidh was expensive even in the Tests in England. He leaks runs. He is a bowler who does not know his strengths. He is not extremely skilled in any one area. His strength is to hit the deck, but he does not bowl slower ones. This is the only thing he knows. He did work a bit on the variations in the IPL. But international cricket is different. The ball was very wet, so maybe we can give him the benefit of the doubt. It is difficult to bowl with a wet bowl for inexperienced bowlers. Here is where you need experienced bowlers,” Kaif said on his YouTube channel.
Kaif also questioned the absence senior fast bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Mohammed Siraj from India’s ODI squad.
“There is less experience in bowling. When this team was picked, I told this. No Bumrah, no Shami, no Siraj. If you want to transition, you have to keep some seniors with the juniors. There are no seniors at all. Prasidh, Arshdeep, Rana – how many games have all of these played? You need senior pacers to tell them things. You have picked a team with a lot of inexperienced pacers,” he added.
The selectors have not offered any official explanation, but leaving out senior pacers could be part of a strategy to build stronger bench. However, banking on three inexperienced pacers — Prasidh, Harshit and Arshdeep — is quite a risky move and India paid the price for the same in Raipur ODI.
The series-deciding third ODI will be played in Visakhapatnam on Saturday (December 6).
