Happy Birthday Krunal Pandya: Key IPL Performances for Mumbai Indians

Krunal Pandya, who turned 30 on Wednesday, had a good start to his week with the Baroda all-rounder handed his ODI debut for India in the first game of the three-match series against England at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. His ODI debut came after playing 18 T20Is for India after making his debut in 2018 against West Indies.

Pandya’s international career is yet to take off with him scoring just 121 runs and taking 14 wickets across the 18 matches, with a highest of 26* (versus New Zealand in 2019) with the bat and best of 4/36 (versus Australia in 2018) with the ball.

However, it’s the Indian Premier League (IPL) where he has shined after being bought by Mumbai Indians in 2016 for a whopping INR 2 crore – a price 20 times his base value INR 10 lakh. In 2018, following two impressive seasons with Mumbai Indians (MI), they retained Krunal for INR 8.8 crore after using the Right to Match card (RTM) following Royal Challengers Bangalore’s acquisition of the all-rounder.

Till now, despite not having great numbers, Krunal has played a major role in MI’s title wins over the years. In 71 matches, he has scored 1,000 runs with an average of 24.39 and taken 46 wickets at an average of 38.43.

As the all-rounder celebrates his birthday, we take a look at some of his key performances for Mumbai Indians over the years:

47 against Rising Pune Supergiant

This was perhaps the most important knock in Krunal’s life so far. Mumbai won the toss and elected to bat first in the IPL 2017 final in Hyderabad. But, they got off to a disastrous start and was reduced to 7/79 in the 15th over. He was the only recognised batsman left and had to take his side to a respectable total.

The southpaw was watchful to begin with and took calculated risks and took Mumbai to 129/8 and fell on the last ball of the innings. Krunal scored 47 off 38 balls, hitting three fours and two sixes.

Coming on to bowl, Krunal opened the bowling but didn’t get any wickets. However, Mumbai kept it incredibly tight and Pune managed one of the most bizarre slip-ups ever to lose the game by one run and finish with a score of 128/6 from their 20 overs. Thus, it allowed Mumbai to lift the trophy for the third time and Krunal was also adjudged the Man-of-the-Match.

86 and 2/15 against Delhi Daredevils

In his debut season, Krunal surprised everyone with his lusty hits and ability to pick up crucial wickets as well. Promoted to bat up the order, Krunal slammed 86 off 37 balls against Delhi at Visakhapatnam. His powerful knock took MI to 206/4 from their 20 overs. The 30-year-old slammed seven fours and six maximums at a strike-rate of 232.43.

With the ball in hand, Krunal took two wickets for 15 runs from 2.1 overs as MI won the match by 80 runs. Krunal got the wicket of Quinton de Kock and Zaheer Khan.

20* and 1/35 against Sunrisers Hyderabad

This doesn’t look too impressive but things innings showed why he’s such a handy player down the order with the bat. Pandya took Siddarth Kaul on and slapped him for 20 runs off 4 balls. Hitting a six, two back to back fours and a six to finish it off. In a jiffy, Mumbai’s score went from 188 to 208. Kaul had been nailing yorkers prior to Krunal’ s arrival and also took the wicket of Hardik on the second ball of the 20th over.

He also took the key wicket of David Warner he was looking to cut loose in the 16th over. Warner fell for 60 off 44 balls and SRH fell apart to lose the game for 34 runs.

• Krunal Pandya