Gill's pre-match call on Prasidh Krishna pays off in Galle

A couple of days out from the Galle Test, Shubman Gill made a superlative assessment of Prasidh Krishna when weighing up the dilemma of picking a second pacer between the Karnataka quick and the tall, extra-bounce Punjab seamer Gurnoor Brar. Of Prasidh, the India and Gujarat Titans skipper said simply: "I think Prasidh recently has been bowling the best that I have ever seen him bowl." Case closed.

That statement carried weight and history. Gill has seen plenty of Prasidh in the nets and in his bowling plans over the last couple of years. But in India's need to mould the future of their fast-bowling reserves, Prasidh has the chance to put himself front and centre of the queue behind Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj in the pecking order.

A career in need of a turning point

The start to Prasidh's Test career has been expensive. He began in South Africa, featured in Australia and then landed in England, struggling for control and economy rate everywhere. In Manchester, India played uncapped Anshul Kamboj ahead of him — a switch that lasted only a game but conveyed plenty about the think-tank's opinions. Through the series, he spoke about wanting to become a bowler who could be relied upon to build pressure from an end.

Last year's England tour showed India have, rightly, put a lot of faith in Akash Deep, but niggles have come in the way. Prasidh is perhaps next in line, but only as long as he can convincingly hold on to the place. As Gurnoor's rise has shown, there will be no dearth of potential for India to test out.

If the last two years have made anything clear it is that Bumrah will probably carry the heavy baggage of workload management for as long as he chooses to continue playing this format. For anyone else not named Mohammed Siraj, staying in the periphery and making the most of the crumbs of opportunity that come their way will go a long way in enhancing their importance to the fast-bowling universe in Indian cricket.

The spell that echoed Gill's words

Some of that pressure-building was on show in Galle. In the final session on Day 4, he bowled a five-over burst that echoed Gill's pre-game sentiment. He went round the stumps and wide of the crease to the left-handed Kamindu Mendis and angled in length deliveries that the batter defended off the backfoot.

Three balls in, Gill had a short chat with his bowler. The fourth was a hard length ball bowled outside the off-stump that Mendis compulsively chased after and edged to second slip. Prasidh's celebration was to turn around and point at his captain, who returned the favour.

That spell was about more than just the wicket. He bowled at a time when India had already found early wickets and were actively trying to ramp up the pressure before stumps and bag a couple more heading into Day 5. Prasidh also didn't let Dhananjaya de Silva or Lahiru Udara find easy scoring avenues, finishing with figures that read 5-2-9-1. Gill went back to him again before stumps for three more overs split between both ends, and he once again bowled dry: 3-0-4-0.

Numbers that point to a new habit

Both of Prasidh's wickets in the game were left-handers — after Mendis, he bounced out Niroshan Dickwella on Day 5. He finished with match figures of 10-3-16-2: a big leap for his defensive bowling hopes. Forty-one of his 60 deliveries were bowled to right-handers, with 29 of them repeatedly pitched in the channel outside the off-stump; he conceded just nine runs from those.

There was also accuracy with the short ball — hard length and bouncers — with 31 such deliveries fetching both his wickets and going for only seven runs. This was a big step in the right direction for Prasidh and his ambitions of becoming a Test regular. He came through as a change bowler who could be frugal while Manav Suthar, with 20-plus overs and six wickets, turned protagonist in the win.

The road ahead

India's next red-ball assignment is in New Zealand in October, where they will need more than just two fast bowlers in their XI. Bumrah might be ready, Akash Deep could be back, and even a fit Nitish Reddy may put his hat in the seam-bowlers' ring. Gurnoor too is waiting to burst through the scenes. Prasidh has another Test now to show why exactly he should be ahead of the competition — another Test to show his good bowling habits at Galle weren't one-off.