India vs England: Prasidh Krishna registers best figures on debut in 1st ODI win

Prasidh Krishna became the first Indian bowler to claim four wickets on his One-Day International (ODI) debut on Tuesday. He achieved the feat during India's 66-run victory over England in the first ODI at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune.

Before Karnataka fast bowler Prasidh bagged the record of the most wickets on ODI debut among Indians, a total of 16 bowlers had taken as many as three wickets on their debut in the 50-over format for Team India. Khaleel Ahmed was the last one to do so when he clinched 3 for 48 against Hong Kong in the 2018 Asia Cup.

On Tuesday, Prasidh made breakthroughs in two back-to-back overs. In reply to India's 317 for 5 in 50 overs, England were off to a superb start. The openers Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow put up 135 runs before the 25-year-old Prasidh handed India the much-needed breakthrough. Roy became Prasidh's maiden ODI scalp, who got out in the 15th over. In his following over, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) pacer dismissed the dangerous man Ben Stokes, leaving England at 137 for 2.

Later in the innings, Prasidh removed Sam Billings and sealed the game for India in the 43rd over bagging the final wicket. Tom Curran became Prasidh's fourth wicket of the day as the debutant finished with figures of 4 for 54 – the best figures by an Indian on ODI debut.

Reacting to his memorable ODI debut in a post-match interview, Prasidh said that he did not start off well and was punished for that by the English batsmen.

"We picked wickets in a cluster and that helped us a lot. I understood after my third over, I can't bowl full, and then I hit good length areas, and let the ball do the rest. IPL has helped me, but it's important in a 10-over format it's more important to come back. I'd like to be known as a hit-the-deck bowler, and I'm trying to get the length more consistently, and I'm going to go back to the drawing board and improve upon it.

I hope I can be the partnership breaker for long because the team needed it at the time, so I was happy to do it. The talk from the beginning was that if we get one wicket it'll change things around and that's exactly what happened," added Prasidh.

The other wickets were taken by Shardul Thakur (3 for 37), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2 for 30), and Krunal Pandya (1 for 59). Meanwhile, Bairstow top-scored for England with 94 off 66.

Earlier, even India's opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan missed out on a century when he was dismissed by Stokes for 98. He first put up 64 runs with Rohit Sharma before sharing a vital 105-run stand with Virat Kohli for the second wicket. Following their dismissals, KL Rahul and Krunal brought India's innings back on track. The two shared an unbeaten stand of 112 runs for the sixth wicket. The partnership saw Rahul finally return to form, while Krunal registered the fastest fifty by a debutant in the ODIs – off 26 balls.

The second ODI between India and England is scheduled to take place on Friday at the same venue in Pune.