One of the glaring problems for Royal Challengers Bengaluru moving into IPL 2025 was weaknesses in the spin department. However, Krunal Pandya extinguished those worries with an impressive performance in IPL 2025 opener against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
Pandya applied the brakes on KKR’s innings when the hosts were riding in the topmost gear. RCB were under the pump at 107-2 and Pandya provided three big wickets to keep the home team at bay.
The left-arm orthodox spinner even bowled a bounce to Venkatesh Iyer. He bowled Iyer and Rinku Singh with a quick one and also accounted for a well-settled KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane.
Pandya returned with impressive figures of 3-29 in his quota of four overs and reaped rewards for hitting the stumps and changing his pace with guile. Thus, he played an instrumental role in restricting KKR to 174 and RCB registered a convincing seven-wicket win after Phil Salt and Virat Kohli scored 56 and 59 runs respectively.
Krunal Pandya said in the post-match presentation after being adjudged Player of the Match, “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, have to make sure I bowl quicker. Change of pace is associated with pacers but also I tried it.”
On bowling a bouncer to Venkatesh Iyer, Pandya said “Now Jitesh knows what I will do, if it’s a wide yorker or a bouncer, if you have something in your armoury, why not use it.”
On representing RCB, the all-rounder concluded, “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 also people are chanting RCB. It’s been 10 days since I have joined and it’s been pretty good.”
Royal Challengers Bengaluru will next take on Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Friday.
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