Royal Challengers Bengaluru all-rounder Krunal Pandya revealed his mindset behind bowling a bouncer out of the blue to Kolkata Knight Riders record-signing Venkatesh Iyer during the opening match of Indian Premier League 2025, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, on Saturday.
In the 12th over of the first innings, Iyer took the crease without wearing a helmet. Krunal smartly tried to bowl a bumper. The batter spotted it early and did well to stay out of the line.
For the next delivery, the southpaw wore a helmet and tried to use his wrist, but ended up dragging the ball onto his own stumps.
"If it's a wide yorker or a bouncer, or if you have something in your armoury, why not use it?" said Krunal, at the post-match presentation.
Before luring Venkatesh into making a mess, the 33-year-old caught the big fish, KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane.
The seasoned star was going berserk by sweetly timing the ball towards the boundary line, but fell to Krunal's ploy, skewing it flat into the hands of Rasikh Salam after scoring a breezy 56 off 31 balls.
Pandya concluded his match-winning spell by outwitting Rinku Singh with a quicker delivery. The southpaw went for a big pull, but the ball skidded past his bat and crashed onto his stumps.
Krunal finished with figures of 3 for 29 and was adjudged ‘Player of the Match’ for his stellar display with the ball.
He shed light on his approach, which allowed him to thrive against a star-studded batting unit.
"When you play against so much crowd… I had to narrow down my focus. If I get hit, I had to get hit off a good ball; glad that I could deliver. You have to go with the flow, how cricket is evolving. Batters have the skill set to hit sixes consistently.
"You also have to up your game to make sure I bowl quicker. Change of pace is associated with pacers, but also I tried it," he added.
Krunal was acquired by RCB from Lucknow Super Giants during the mega auction for Rs 5.75 crore. He shared his experience of the limited number of days he spent with the franchise and described it as "amazing”.
"It's been amazing. When I got into the team, I realised how much madness there is. The crowd support you get; even in domestic cricket there are people chanting RCB. It's been 10 days since I joined, and it's been pretty good."
Krunal's heroics forced KKR to limp its way to 174/8.
In reply, RCB's destructive opening pair of Virat Kohli and Philip Salt set the tone for a successful chase. They raised a 95-run opening stand to lay the foundation for an emphatic seven-wicket triumph.
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