'Always easy to write people off...': Ravichandran Ashwin hails Prasidh Krishna for heroic spell vs South Africa in 3rd ODI

Former India cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin sent a stern message to Prasidh Krishna's doubters following the latter's brilliant bowling performance against South Africa in the third and final ODI of the series. This comes after Krishna faced a lot of scrutiny for his bowling display in the second ODI. Notably, he gave away 85 runs in his spell of 8.2 overs as the Proteas went on to chase down the humongous target of 359 and levelled up the series at 1-1.

India clinch series by 2-1

However, Krishna made a superb comeback in the highly-important third ODI, recording figures of 4/66 in 9.5 overs as India bundled out South Africa for 270 runs. The hosts would go on to chase down the target of 271 comfortably as Yashasvi Jaiswal brought up his maiden ODI hundred while both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli scored valiant half-centuries.

Ashwin firmly stated that a talented bowler like Krishna shouldn't be written off because of some poor performances. He also backed the 29-year-old to consistently perform well at the highest level in the coming future.

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"Prasidh showing the quality he possesses, it’s always easy to write people off when they have bad days, but given a good run, quality will always shine through," Ashwin wrote on X.

"Once he gets a better understanding of his awareness, run up tempo and triggers, he will start delivering more consistently at this level," he added.

Krishna's stellar performance

Krishna had ended up leaking quite a lot of runs in his opening few overs during the third ODI as Quinton de Kock scored multiple sixes against him. He was soon taken off the attack and was replaced by part-timer Tilak Varma. He was eventually brought back in the 27th over and went on to bowl brilliantly. He racked up the important wickets of de Kock, Matthew Breetzke, Aiden Markram. He was also the one who clinched the final wicket of South Africa's innings in the form of Ottneil Baartman. It remains to be seen if he gets picked in the Men in Blue's next ODI assignment that will be against New Zealand in January.