McGrath is right about Prasidh, but his Test and ODI records tell different stories
Glenn McGrath has backed Prasidh Krishna to fill the gap left by Mohammed Shami and cover for Jasprit Bumrah. The one-day numbers already agree with him. The Test numbers are a long way from it.
Jul 29, 2026
Glenn McGrath, speaking at the MRF Pace Foundation in Chennai, has been talking about two Indian fast bowlers this week, and the more interesting half of it was not about Jasprit Bumrah.
“I am a fan of Prasidh,” McGrath said. “He is always given the task of filling the shoes of Shami and Bumrah. It is the transitional period. From seeing him here to watching him bowl in the Indian Premier League, he has matured the way he is bowling and controlling his pace.” He went further: “He is tall, hits good areas, gets the bounce and pace. He is the whole package.”
He is right about the tools. Whether Prasidh Krishna is already Bumrah’s long-term partner depends entirely on which format you are asking about, because his two records barely resemble each other.
In ODI cricket he is already there
Fifty wickets in 28 one-day internationals at 26.62, a strike rate of 27, which works out at a wicket every four and a half overs. That is not a support bowler’s return. His 5 for 23 against Afghanistan at Chennai in June, on a surface with bounce in it, was the sort of spell that gets filed away by selectors thinking about a 2027 World Cup in South Africa.
The economy rate of 5.90 is the price of it, and India have always had to decide whether they want the bowler who buys wickets or the one who saves runs in the middle overs. My view is that with Bumrah’s availability being rationed a series at a time, that argument has already been settled by circumstance. India need somebody who takes wickets when Bumrah is not on the field, and Prasidh does that.
In Test cricket the case is much thinner
Seven Tests, 25 wickets at 31.96, an economy rate of 4.59 and no five-wicket haul. In a format where the great fast bowlers grind teams down, 4.59 an over is close to a batting side’s release valve.
The England tour of 2025 is what everybody remembers: 14 wickets in three Tests at 37.07, going at 4.94, with long spells where the short ball he loves became the ball England were waiting for. McGrath, to his credit, named exactly that. “There was a time when he bowled a bit short,” he said, “but apart from this concern, he has impressed me.”
The numbers are not all bad. He took 6 for 107 in a Border-Gavaskar Test in Australia at 17.83 apiece, and 3 for 43 at home against Afghanistan in June at three an over. His first-class record, 129 wickets at 24.25, is considerably better than his Test record. The bowler McGrath describes exists. He has just not yet shown up for long enough stretches in whites.
The awkward part of McGrath’s advice
The same afternoon, McGrath told Bumrah he needs to find a way to last. “He’s got to find a way to have a bit of longevity. He has had a few injuries unfortunately, but he is a class act and a quality bowler. It comes down to the choice of focusing on Test cricket or T20 cricket. A lot depends on his body.”
Sound advice, except that the man being nominated to carry the load has a stress fracture in his left leg in 2019, a back stress fracture in 2022 and a quadriceps injury in 2024 on his own record. Two of those wiped out entire IPL seasons. India are already rotating the whole attack anyway: in June, Prasidh was the bowler drafted into the T20I squad for Ireland and England when Siraj was rested to manage his workload. This is not a choice between a fragile spearhead and a durable partner. It is a choice between two bowlers who both need looking after.
Sri Lanka will not settle it
Bumrah has been recalled for the two Tests in Sri Lanka, on 15 August in Galle and 23 August in Colombo, subject to fitness after the injury that kept him out of the ODI decider at Lord’s. If he does not make it, Prasidh and Siraj lead the attack. Mohammed Shami, whose shoes McGrath was talking about, took 37 wickets in seven Ranji Trophy matches last season and was left out again. He has not played for India since March 2025, and the reporting after the squad announcement was blunt about it: the selectors have moved on.
Galle, though, is a strange place to audition a tall bowler who lives on bounce. Two Tests on subcontinental pitches where the spinners will bowl most of the overs might tell us very little, and could just as easily produce another set of figures that look worse than the bowling did. If India want a real answer on whether McGrath is right, it will come in South Africa in 2027, or on the next tour where the ball actually carries.