Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra slammed Prasidh Krishna’s performance after the visitors suffered a 34-run loss against Ireland in the first T20I at Belfast on Friday. After Indian captain Shreyas Iyer decided to bowl first in the series opener, Krishna returned with expensive figures of 0-57 in his quota of four overs and thus conceded his runs at 14.20.

The lanky pacer was taken to the cleaners by the Irish batters as he could not hit the right areas. Krishna had bagged a five-wicket haul in the third ODI against Afghanistan but could not carry the same impetus against Ireland.

Chopra noted that Harshit Rana’s comeback to Intertional cricket was impressive as the Delhi pacer was the pick of the Indian bowlers with figures of 4-24 in his four overs.

“Harshit Rana’s comeback was excellent. He was the pick of the bowlers. Arshdeep Singh bowled extremely well. Axar Patel bowled the 20th over. He bowled pretty well. Shivam Dube bowled three overs, and all three were good. He picked up a wicket with his first ball. So he was absolutely fine. It’s just about those two overs,” Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.

“Prasidh Krishna has played six T20Is for India. He has bowled 24 overs in that. Of course, he bowls four overs in every match, which is excellent. He has taken eight wickets. So he is a bit of a wicket-taker, but look at the economy. He concedes 11.5 runs per over,” he added.

“He has conceded 277 runs in 24 overs. An innings comprises 20 overs, and if we talk about him conceding 277 runs in his 24 overs, that’s way too much. So that has become a cause for concern for sure. They had the option to go towards other bowlers. You said you wanted to play Prasidh Krishna, which is okay, but a slight lack of game awareness was visible,” he observed.

The second T20I between India and Ireland at Belfast on Sunday.