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Prasidh Krishna: GT’s hero in the shadows
Slowly but surely, Prasidh Krishna is rising as a dependable four-over pacer for the Titans. He is using his height to great use, and if there is some help in the pitch (like in Ahmedabad and Bengaluru) for him, he becomes even harder to hit. Moreover, his yorkers have proven to be quite lethal due to the reverse swing he is able to generate.
After bowling brilliantly against Mumbai Indians, picking 2/18 in his four overs, he bowled another effective spell against RCB in Bengaluru and gave just 26 runs in his four overs and decimated Tim David’s stumps with a yorker on the final ball of the RCB innings.
Along with Mohammed Siraj, who bowled an incisive spell of 3/19 on the day, he is forming a formidable partnership for GT.
Their bowling styles also complement each other, with Siraj being the classic skiddy pacer whose default length is slightly fuller than what Prasidh bowls. Prasidh also bowls more in the middle overs and targets the in-between length more. When combined on a day like this, they are a lethal pair to face.
Sai Kishore’s skills can’t be ignored anymore
Carrom ball, drifting the ball, turning it prodigiously from over the wicket to right-handers, and then getting the ball to dip — such a range of skills is rarely seen in an Indian left-arm spinner.
But in just 24 deliveries against the RCB on a pitch that was not so conducive to spin, Sai Kishore displayed all the above-mentioned skills and proved tricky to deal with for the batters. He bowled his overs for just 22 runs and picked two wickets as well.
So far in the season, he has 3/30 vs Punjab Kings, 1/37 vs MI and now 2/22 vs RCB. Safe to say, he is going to GT’s key spinner going forward with Rashid Khan going through a dreadful season so far. He is ensuring that GT are not missing their star spinner and they have a bowling option that can torment the right-handers.
Sai Sudharsan continues to be GT’s best and most reliable batter
Sai Sudharsan has his limitations as a T20 batter, and he is far from the kind of cricketer who will put bums on seats. Yet ,despite being far from a finished product, he is already among the most bankable batters in the league.
After beginning the season with scores of 74 and 63, Sudharsan extended his remarkable start today, setting up the chase for the Titans with a flawless 49. It was a tricky night to be an opener on a Chinnaswamy surface with plenty of juice, particularly up-front, but Sudharsan saw off the new ball threat of Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar immaculately and then shifted gears ever so seamlessly to set up the game for his side.
It’s well-established now how ‘failure-free’ Sudharsan is, with him having just one single-digit score in his entire career. He’s truly been on a tear of late, with his last seven scores reading 49, 63, 74, 103, 6, 84* & 65. He might not have the T20 hitting range that someone like Abhishek Sharma possesses, but he is the ideal batter for this GT side, which is built around its bowling strength.
Orange cap, watch out. Sai Sudharsan is coming for you this time around!
RCB’s Rasikh Dar experiment has not gotten off to a good start
Rasikh Dar had an economy of 11 in IPL 2024, but still, RCB went all-out for the youngster at the mega auction, eventually securing his services for a whopping 6 crore. The reason? His old-ball skills: In IPL 2024, all of Rasikh’s 9 wickets came after the powerplay, with him particularly being impressive in the 7-15 phase, where he took as many as six wickets.
Early days, but IPL 2025 has gotten off to a false start for Rasikh. The 24-year-old has played two games across two venues and has gone for plenty, conceding 70 off the six overs he’s bowled.
What will concern RCB is the fact that he’s looked a shadow of the bowler he did for Delhi Capitals (DC) last season, neither foxing the batters with his variations nor bowling those deceptively wicked yorkers he did last time around.
So far in IPL 2025, the right-armer has bowled four of his six overs in the 7-15 phase and has conceded 47 runs. He’s taken a solitary wicket, that of Sunil Narine, and that also only came after Narine had already hammered him for 17 off seven balls. Tonight against RCB, Rasikh was bludgeoned out of the attack by Jos Buttler, who pummeled 27 off 12 balls against the young right-armer.
Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneswar Kumar have been on the money so far, and Yash Dayal has done alright too, but things could get messy on the bowling front for RCB if their fourth and fifth bowlers don’t step up. Right now, it looks like they have little idea as to who their go-to fourth and fifth bowlers are.
