Prasidh, the silent superstar in Titans' mix-and-match attack

Gujarat Titans (GT) have shown themselves to be a pretty ruthless and unemotional side.

Washington Sundar finally got a chance to play - the Impact Player rule has ruined it for even slightly imperfect allrounders - in the last match, put in a match-winning innings that had commentators and experts calling him too good to be left out, but when GT returned to a red-soil pitch at home, they left him out. They didn't get carried away. They trusted M Shahrukh Khan, a specialist batter, to do the job. They also saw the conditions called for an extra fast bowler. They didn't try to accommodate Washington.

R Sai Kishore was GT's second-highest wicket-taker before this match. "Probably the best spinner in the tournament so far," according to their mentor Parthiv Patel. He didn't get to bowl until this match against Rajasthan Royals (RR) was practically over as a contest.

This is a squad that has lost Kagiso Rabada after three games, and yet they seem to be able to field different attacks for different conditions almost effortlessly. They go to Bengaluru where new-ball movement can be crucial, they add Arshad Khan. They see the one sluggish track in Hyderabad being used, and they bring in Washington. They roll out the slow and low black-soil pitch at home, they go for taller bowlers. On red soil, back comes Arshad. And Shubman Gill almost always has six nearly genuine bowlers at his disposal.

However, apart from the resurgent Mohammed Siraj and the all-time-great Rashid Khan, there has been one constant in the GT side that has made this versatility and ruthlessness possible. He is tall, finally fit and quick, he goes by Skiddy on Instagram and with his team-mates, but he is anything but. This version of Prasidh Krishna is the one that India hoped for when they backed him.

Without taking anything away from Siraj, he does get the new ball to play with. Prasidh is playing the other role of making something out of nothing when the movement has died, and you need some other point of difference. He has now had four straight matches in which he has gone under seven an over. He has taken wickets in each of these games.

Nothing quite sums up Prasidh's impact more than GT's last two home games. Against Mumbai Indians (MI), they played on the black-soil pitch because MI are used to the red soil at Wankhede and are built for quick and bouncy surfaces. His figures: 4-0-18-2. Against RR, GT went back to the pace and bounce of red soil. His figures: 4-0-24-3.

A lot of top-level cricket is about feeling good about your body and executing your plans well, but don't underestimate the value of knowing what to do in different conditions. In these two games, Prasidh has shown the awareness of his own game that only comes with experience. On the slower, grippier surface, Prasidh went into the surface more and bowled more slower balls. Both his wickets in that match came off slower balls. Every fourth ball he delivered in that game was a slower one.

On the quicker pitch, not only did Prasidh crank up the pace, he also didn't bother with the slower balls. He tried just one against RR as against seven against MI. Six balls went above 145kph and 14 above 140kph against RR, as against just one and eight against MI. Against MI, he went short of a good length 15 times, against RR only 12.

Reaping the rewards for his consistency and fitness, Prasidh has probably been the best fast bowler outside the powerplay in this IPL so far. Even if it is over a period of four overs, the reaction Prasidh is getting from the pitch is a sight for sore eyes. The bounce is steep and unbecoming of the lengths he is bowling, drawing poor connections from the batters. The pace is up perhaps because he feels good about his physical fitness.

Too often, India have been edged out of Test matches because their bowlers are shorter and skiddier, thus extracting less from the surfaces in South Africa, New Zealand, England and Australia. India's next big Test tour is in England, two months away. Can Prasidh sustain this consistency and intensity for longer formats?