In an exciting match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Krunal Pandya emerged as the hero for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) during their IPL 2025 clash on Monday. With the Mumbai Indians (MI) requiring 19 runs to win in the last over of their chase (set at 222), Krunal took on the responsibility and delivered an impressive performance, allowing only six runs while claiming three important wickets.
In this thrilling situation, Krunal struck on the very first ball of the over, dismissing Mitchell Santner, who posed a significant threat to RCB’s defense. However, it was his second wicket that truly captured everyone’s attention. Krunal bowled a short ball to Deepak Chahar, who tried to pull it for a boundary but nearly miscalculated the shot.
Phil Salt positioned himself perfectly beneath the ball. Realizing it could clear the boundary, he made a great effort to return it to the field of play, allowing Tim David to complete a fantastic catch. Without Salt’s awareness and David’s quick actions, Krunal’s wicket of Chahar would not have been possible.
After taking down Santner and Chahar, Krunal did allow a boundary to slip through to Naman Dhir on the fourth ball of the over. However, he quickly bounced back, dismissing Dhir with his next delivery and ending the over with a dot ball. Krunal concluded the match with impressive bowling figures of 4 overs, 45 runs, and 4 wickets. Reflecting on his success, he noted that his past experiences playing for MI at Wankhede had a significant impact on his execution in the death overs.
“Bowling to Santner, I knew the leg side was shorter. After playing here for a decade, some of that experience had to help. As a bowler, committing fully is essential for execution,” Krunal said after the match.
With this victory, RCB climbed to third place on the table, amassing six points and maintaining a net run rate of +1.015 following three wins out of four matches played.
