Former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin defended Shubman Gill’s tactic of bringing Prasidh Krishna late into the attack against Punjab Kings at New Chandigarh on Tuesday. GT suffered a three-wicket loss against PBKS and after the loss, many cricket boffins questioned Gill’s captaincy as he introduced Krishna late into the attack in the 13th over.
However, Ashwin said Cooper Connolly, who top-scored with 72 runs, is known to play the hard length and Gill did well to hold Krishna into the attack. The lanky Karnataka pacer was used as an Impact Player in place of Shahrukh Khan and he did made an impact as he returned with impressive figures of 3-29 in his quota of four overs.
Krishna accounted for PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer, Shashank Singh and Marcus Stoinis. Ashwin said the old ball was skidding in GT’s batting innings in the second half.
“I was hearing a lot about Prasidh Krishna’s bowling entry point, but I have a different point of view here. If we look at the first innings where PBKS stopped GT in the middle overs, at that time also Vijaykumar Vyshak was sent in late. The old ball was skidding and it was a little stuck off the surface as well. Cooper Connolly also plays the hard length well against pace because he is Australian. In the end, I thought it was a good decision,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
“Till GT had not brought Prasidh Krishna into the attack, it seemed like PBKS will win the match easily, but they did not. He put the brakes on them, and from there the game started getting a little tight,” he added.
On the other hand, Gill also justified his decision to bring Krishna late into the attack against PBKS.
“He came at the right time, took wickets and kept us in the game until the 17th and 18th over. All ifs and buts, but at that time, we thought, you know, with the wicket going a little bit slow, maybe a bowler who’s quick and skiddy might get us a few wickets. And he was bowling pretty well in the nets. So that was the thought process behind it,” Gill said during the post-match presentation.
Gujarat Titans will next take on Rajasthan Royals at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, on Saturday.
