India vs South Africa: Sanjay Bangar defends debutant Prasidh Krishna after abject start

Prasidh Krishna didn’t have the brightest start to Test cricket life in the ongoing Test between India and South Africa at the SuperSport Park in Centurion. The seamer conceded 61 runs from 15 overs at an econmy of just over four-an-over, with just one wicket to show from it.

It wasn’t a great second day at Centurion for the Indian cricket team. After being bowled out for 245 runs, helped significantly by KL Rahul’s 101-run knock, South Africa stood on 256/5 with a 11-run lead.

Krishna, 27, took the wicket of Kyle Verreynne as his only positive from what was an otherwise disappointing day. However, Sanjay Bangar came to his rescue in the post-match analysis.

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“I feel this can happen. This has happened to somebody like Jasprit Bumrah as well. I still remember the first test, which happened in Cape Town. On Day 1, he went for 60-70 runs. After that he resorted to his natural length, which is hitting the length hard,” Bangar told Star Sports.

“That’s what you saw, the clear point of difference that the team management was hoping from Prasidh might not come into great effect in the first spell itself. But in the second spell, we saw if he can stick to that length of hitting the deck hard and not go searching for swing, he can still be a handful. Early days for Prasidh, but he is not the only one who has had a sort of a below-average start to his Test career,” Bangar said.

South Africa will look to build on their 11-run lead with Dean Elgar unbeaten on 140 runs and joined by Marco Jansen in the middle.