'It's my responsibility to get better' - Prasidh Krishna targets better lengths for second Test against England

India's chances of bouncing back in the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy now rest heavily on the shoulders of their pace attack. After a disappointing defeat at Headingley, where England chased down 371 to go 1-0 up, fast bowler Prasidh Krishna has opened up about his performance and areas of improvement ahead of the second Test.

Krishna, who earned his spot in the playing XI on the back of a solid IPL season where he clinched the Purple Cap, was criticised despite picking up five wickets in the match. While he managed to dismiss Ollie Pope, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith in the first innings, and Zak Crawley and Pope again in the second, his overall economy of 6.28 caught attention.

His figures of 128 runs in 20 overs, followed by 92 in 15, set an unwanted record as Krishna became the first bowler in Test history to concede over 90 runs in both innings of a match at an economy rate above six. His expensive spell has only been surpassed by three bowlers in terms of economy rate when conceding over 200 runs in a match. Krishna took responsibility for his performance. 

"Every time I come into bowl, I'm definitely looking to bowl a maiden and I'm not really trying to give away boundaries or anything," he said as quoted by Cricbuzz.

"The outfield [at Headingley] was fast, the lengths, lines that I bowled were not perfect to be honest at most times, and they took me on. Some of them were edges, some of them I tried bowling bouncers, I ended up giving runs.

"So I think somebody in the team had to do it, and if I sit back and say, 'I want to look at my numbers, what my economy is,' and not really look at the wickets, it cost me a 4 and a 6, and then Jamie Smith got out, so if it means that I do that and get a wicket, I'm happy to do it, but definitely every time I come on to the bowl, I am looking to keep the economy down and build the pressure up," he added.

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Was a little shorter than where I wanted to be: Prasidh Krishna

Krishna also revealed that he often bowled short, with 104 of his 211 deliveries being short of a good length, well above the ideal 6-8 metre range at a venue like Headingley. While that length fetched him three wickets, it also saw him leak runs at a 7.54 economy rate.

"No, I think if I look at the first innings, I was a little too short than where I wanted to be, that 6 to 8 [metre length] is ideal. Yeah, that's what I would say. I think the second innings got slightly better because again, the wicket was slightly slower. I had to pitch a few slightly behind it and then go slightly fuller when I'm trying to get a wicket," Krishna said.

"So yeah, I definitely did not bowl the lengths that I wanted. Yeah, I think so... not wanting to float it up there is definitely one of the reasons, and also, it honestly took me some time to get used to the slope, that's why, yeah, no reasons why I shouldn't be able to do it as a professional, but I take complete responsibility about it, and maybe I'll do it better next time," he added.

With Jasprit Bumrah set to miss at least two of the remaining four Tests due to workload management, Krishna will have to take more responsibility and make sure to deliver what is expected of him.

“The culture we have is about learning from each other. Bumrah is still around, guiding us... but experience is something you gain only by doing. What the culture that we guys have created is we are learning off each other, no matter who's there, who's around. He's [Bumrah] been talking to all of us all though, even before coming here. At least for me, I've been part of this team for a few years now, so the conversations are still going on. 

"One thing you cannot get is experience, that you have to do it yourself, and yeah, I think all of us are excited. If you look at the team, everybody is here, Siraj has played a lot of games, he's going to continue playing, and then whoever comes in, or whatever happens later, it's a great experience, and it's an opportunity for us to be here," he concluded.