Follow UsYou look at Krunal Pandya, there’s something indescribable about him.
That’s just a cold-blooded aura. That’s aura farming. There’s just that cold-blooded instinct right in his eyes for which no words would do any justice.
He barely talks. All he does is look at the batter, and the rest of it is done.
There’s something about the Pandya household that is yet again indescribable. There’s a level of calmness and clutch that's beyond words. After Hardik Pandya clutched an almost-out-clutch-range clash against South Africa last year, senior Pandya followed it with a 'don’t forget me performance' in the most important game in RCB's history.
Doing it in a final is one thing, but doing it for a trophy-laden RCB unit is completely different.
Thankfully, Pandya didn’t bear any of that 17-year burden, and immediately dropped the monkey off his shoulders in his first-ever year. After all, he had won this trophy three times even before coming to RCB.
He’s in fact done this very thing once in the IPL final before.
But to do it with RCB in a clutch situation, that’s why Krunal will already go down in the history books as one of the greatest cricketers to have ever played for the franchise. When he walked back, scoring a five-ball four, there was this kind of look on his face which said, ‘Hang on, wait for the second innings, y’all’.
Sometimes when an individual's face is as cold as this, you should be scared.
That moment for Punjab Kings came in the seventh over when they had to face the cold-stoned devil in his full avatar. The left-arm spinner came and made an immediate impact with the ball, mixing his pace and showing his experience.
At 70/1, the game was moving right as PBKS would have dreamt of.
But that’s where Krunal came and showed his experience, slowing down the ball, and deceiving Prabhsimran Singh with an 80 kmph ball, something he rarely ever did in the entire season. Prabhsimran was early on the shot, and the result was a rare failure.
It was that over which went a long way in changing the context of the clash.
Romario Shepherd immediately struck in the next over to send back Shreyas Iyer, as PBKS’ batting suddenly looked pale and fragile. One turned into two, and suddenly the required rate boomed, and PBKS needed more than a Josh Inglis blitz to save them.
After Inglis briefly gave PBKS a glimmer of hope, Pandya took it all away in a single delivery.
“I just backed myself and thought that if I'm able to vary my pace and keep it more on the slower side, I'll create chances rather than just coming and firing it in,” Krunal said in the post-match presentation.
Understanding that Inglis was going for the big hit, Krunal darted one into the right-handed Australian, who couldn’t find the timing, as the ball went straight into the hands of Liam Livingstone at long-on, which started the downfall for PBKS.
“What has been my biggest strength is learning what the situation requires. I've always backed my gut and instinct. Today also I realised if I have to take a couple of wickets, I have to be brave. If you would've bowled quick on that surface, it would've been a good batting wicket. But if you varied your pace, there was some help,” Krunal added.
“When I joined RCB I said that I loved winning trophies. After 3 and a half months, glad I was able to fulfil what I said on Day 1. Been pretty good - 10 years, 4 IPL trophies. Told Hardik also on the phone, there will be 9 IPL trophies in the Pandya household in 10 years."
Four overs, 17 runs, two wickets, Krunal’s figures might look ordinary, but it was the greatest-ever spell in RCB’s 18-season history. And the 34-year-old just added another title to his decorated CV, a ninth title in the Pandya household.
You’d have seen a lot of people win one Player of the Match award in the final, but have you seen a player win two POTM awards in two different finals? Well, we present to you Krunal Himanshu Pandya.
10 years, 9 IPL trophies, a household that even turns water into a fantastic wine.