Prasidh Krishna was the man of the moment for India during the initial overs in the morning session when he snapped up a well-set Ben Duckett on Day 4 of the fifth and final Test at the Oval on Sunday. The India seamer drew Duckett into the drive and had him caught at second slip on what was his fourth ball of the morning.
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting would go in depth about how Duckett had suddenly changed his technique before he was dismissed.
“It was very unusual. He was only 4 balls into Prasidh Krishna’s first over as well. He started where he normally starts. Couple of short balls pushed him back and changed his whole game and his whole technique. The ball he gets out is so deep in his crease. He tries to play forward but his front foot doesn’t get in front of the front crease line which brought in the edge. There was a little bit of a seam movement from the delivery as well. Yes, it was very full but it just seamed enough to go from the middle of the bat to the outside edge. So unusual to see someone change his game, especially when he was in and set. So, unusual and brought about his downfall,” Ponting said on Sky Sports Cricket.
In the match, Mohammed Siraj bowled another lion hearted eight-over spell as India took two timely wickets to leave England on 164 for three at lunch on day four of the final Test.
Chasing a record 374, England still need 210 runs for the series sealing win while India would back themselves to bowl the hosts on a challenging pitch and level the series.
Having dismissed Zak Crawley on the last ball of the day three, Siraj started the proceedings alongside Akash Deep. Like the first innings, Siraj put his hand up and produced a fiery spell where he troubled Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope.
Siraj was rewarded for his relentless approach when he trapped Pope in front for the second time in the game with a sharp nip backer off a wobbled seam. Pope had just found his groove, having collected three fours off Prasidh before being dismissed in the following over.
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