Prasidh Krishna delivered the kind of bowling plan that wins matches in tight margins. Earlier this week, when Delhi Capitals needed two runs from the final two balls of a Gujarat Titans (GT) chase, Krishna produced two sharply executed slower bouncers to shut the door on David Miller and seal the result. After the contest, GT captain Shubman Gill explained that, on that particular Delhi surface, the slower bouncer was the smarter option compared to going for a yorker, and added that it is a length Krishna has honed over time.
Why the slower bouncer has become Krishna’s weapon
In IPL 2025, Krishna finished with 25 wickets, with 12 of them coming from short or short-of-good-length areas. The logic is straightforward: he does not rely on dramatic movement off the seam. Instead, his height helps him land the ball on a fuller-looking length that hits the deck with force, creating awkward bounce for batters and making clean contact harder.
This season, five of his six wickets taken before Sunday also arrived from the same general lengths. On Sunday, against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), he stretched that pattern in a memorable way.
Two square boundaries at Ekana Cricket Stadium were notably compact—60 metres and 61 metres—yet Krishna stayed faithful to his blueprint. He returned a career-best T20 spell of 4 for 28, and each of his four wickets was taken from either a short or short-of-good-length delivery. Just as crucially, those wickets arrived at moments that kept LSG from gaining momentum, repeatedly dragging the chase back whenever it threatened to gather speed.
- LSG began their innings on a mixed-soil pitch and reached 60 for 2 within six overs, their best powerplay output of the season.
- Aiden Markram and Ayush Badoni looked set to press on with the bat, but once the fielding restrictions eased, Gill turned to Prasidh.
- Prasidh made an early impact: on his third ball he squared up Markram, and while Markram struck two fours off the next pair of deliveries, Krishna followed with a short-of-good-length ball outside off. Markram went for the pull and was caught at deep midwicket.
- Badoni then suffered a similar setback when he failed to time a pull against the hard length in the next over and again found the fielder at deep midwicket.
- With four wickets down inside nine overs, LSG shifted into damage-control mode. Nicholas Pooran and Abdul Samad steadied the situation for a spell, and then Pooran injected momentum with consecutive sixes off Rashid Khan.
- Right as LSG looked to be recovering, Krishna struck again. This time, another slower bouncer proved decisive: Pooran tried to work with the bounce, but could only send a forehand to mid-off for an easy catch.
- Krishna conceded just one run in that over—the 15th of the innings—leaving LSG at 57 for 3 during the middle phase.
The pitch was not straightforward, and a target around 175 could still have tested any chase. LSG even had Mukul Choudhary in their ranks, fresh from a remarkable effort three days earlier where he smashed 54 not out off 27 balls at No. 7 to help engineer an unlikely win over Kolkata Knight Riders. An innings of a similar rhythm could have reignited LSG’s chances, but Krishna kept applying pressure.
Choudhary initially started in a slightly shaky fashion, before beginning to accelerate by pulling Kagiso Rabada for six. Krishna, however, cut that acceleration short with yet another slower bouncer. Choudhary went for the pull again and only managed an edge to the wicketkeeper.
Even with that disruption, LSG’s lower order found 44 runs in the final three overs, underscoring how much of the contest Krishna’s spell influenced. He was the standout performer on ESPNcricinfo’s Impact List and was named Player of the Match.
After the game, Krishna said, “The pitch was challenging even for the bowlers. If you didn’t get your line or length right, you would travel. We saw that in the powerplay—every time we missed our slot, they played quite a few good shots.”
When asked about his approach to counter that, he added: “It’s a mixture of bowling those hard lengths, those bouncers, the offcutters. The other pacers were bowling pace-on bouncers, so I thought I could bring up the change-up, and that actually worked for us.”
And on how he has mastered the slower bouncer, he explained: “A lot of practice. You need to bowl a lot of them in the nets and then feel good about it before you can bring it into the game. So yeah, it does take a lot of hard work. A lot of time, a lot of effort in the nets, a tired body and then one day you will get the fruits of it.”
Krishna’s impact extends beyond one match. GT, too, have been benefiting from the slower bouncer this season, with his deliveries playing a decisive role in both of the team’s wins so far.
