In MI vs RCB clash, all eyes were on Jasprit Bumrah’s return or another Rohit Sharma vs Virat Kohli showdown. But there was a mini battle that not many noticed. It was the battle of brothers in IPL with Hardik Pandya facing off against his elder brother Krunal Pandya. The result, Hardik won the fight with Krunal. But Senior Pandya won the battle as he bagged four wickets to power Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a narrow 12-run win over Mumbai Indians.
After a fifer in the last match against Lucknow Super Giants with the ball, Hardik Pandya hammered 15-ball 42 to take Mumbai close to the target of 222. But his knock had that one over where he smashed his elder brother for two consecutive sixes.
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Hardik wins the fight
As Krunal came to bowl in the 15th over, he was up against his brother, who was on 20 runs off just 4 deliveries. Hardik did not spare his brother. Junior Pandya hammered the first ballfor a six over the long-off. The second one was even bigger as Krunal bowled a fuller length delivery only to be treated with disdain, smashing it over the deep square leg for a six.
That forced Krunal to be on the defensive but ended up making two errors, bowling two wide deliveries.
There was no Hardik vs Krunal battle after that but two brothers shared a smile, some banter, and a hug to end the match.
When was the last time you saw a spinner taking a wicket off a bouncer?
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Krunal wins the battle
While Hardik had almost won Mumbai Indians the match, Krunal was not done yet. Despite going for 39 runs in the first three overs, Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Rajat Patidar trusted Krunal to bowl the 20th over with MI needing 20 runs to win.
Krunal, who reinveted himself as a left-arm unorthodox pacer instead of a left-arm orthodox spinner, dismissed Mitchell Santner in the first ball of the 20th over. Then, with Tim David and Phil Salt combining for a wonderful catch on the boundary line, he removed Deepak Chahar to be on a hat-trick. While he did not get the hat-trick, he ensured “W” in RCB’s column, removing Naman Dhir.
Senior Pandya ended up wit 4/45, defending 20 runs in the last over and win the match for RCB. As the match ended, Krunal shared a warm embrace with his little brother as he won the battle. In the end, Krunal had a bittersweet moment. He was happy to win the match for RCB but sad that Hardik could not.
“The bond that we (Hardik and I) have, we knew there was only one Pandya that was supposed to win. The love and affection we have for each other is very natural. Hardik batted really well and I feel for him. But we won and that is most important,” Krunal Pandya said at the post-match.
