After three and a half months, glad I was able to fulfil what I said on Day 1 – Krunal Pandya

It was a phenomenal spell from Krunal Pandya who delivered a couple of crucial blows to pump out the brakes for PBKS in the final of IPL 2025. His match-winning spell of 4-0-17-2 proved to be gold dust for RCB in what was a tricky defence of 190 runs on the board.

His crucial spell won him the Player of the Match award for the finale that saw RCB lifting their first IPL title. Talking at the post-match presentation, Krunal Pandya opened up on the surface with the kind of bowling that he planned to execute. He also had a message for his younger brother, Hardik Pandya, at the end of the interview.

Pandya said, “When we batted in the first innings, I was sitting outside and chatting with batters, I realised the slower you bowl the better. But in this format as a bowler you need guts to do that because the margin of error is small. 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.”

Shedding light on his biggest strength, Krunal added, “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. In the second innings it got better as well compared to the first innings.”

He concluded with a message about his journey with RCB, stating, “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.”