Krunal Pandya has been a part of Mumbai Indians. (Source: IPL)
Mumbai Indians allrounder Krunal Pandya journey to the top has been one filled with struggles and immense sacrifices. It is an inspiring tale as the elder of the Pandya brothers went through one of the biggest lows in his career to bag a lucrative IPL contract with Mumbai Indians. In a recent chat with Mumbai Indians, Krunal revealed his moment of reckoning which occurred after an Under-23 match for his state team of Baroda against Karnataka. Recalling the immense sacrifices made by his parents, Pandya said that once he faced the axe he was shattered and left in grief. However, not among the ones to get bogged down, Krunal kept his chin up and changed his life in a couple of years.
Recalling the troubled period Pandya said, “I had my reality check during a U23 game- Baroda vs Karnataka. This was the turning point of my life. It was the end of the 4th days play, we were trying to save the game.I played a poor shot and got out, and was dropped from the team immediately. I went home and cried for an hour.”
“It was hurting and I began to think about what I had achieved in my life. My parents had done so much for me. sacrificed so much. They had relocated cities just so that I could play well. I was 22-23 and I had nothing to show for it. At the time I got that reality check, I felt miserable…But that was the best thing that could have happened to me. After that things turned around for me within a couple of years. I stopped setting career goals for myself and all that I wanted was to improve as a player and as a human being. After that Mumbai Indians gave me the big break and people know me today only because of Mumbai Indians” he further added.
In 2016, Krunal was picked up by Mumbai Indians in the auctions and the rest, as they say, is history. Krunal Pandya was retained by Mumbai Indians for a sum of Rs 8.8 crore during the 2018 IPL auctions. He is the is costliest uncapped buy in IPL till date. Recently, Krunal blasted a quickfire 31 runs off 12 balls against Kings XI Punjab. Reflecting on his knock Pandya said, “I was disappointed that I could not deliver when I was presented with a similar opportunity in the last match at Bengaluru; we had needed about 60 runs in the last five overs,” he said shortly after his heroics. “That motivated me; I wanted to win this game for my team.”