Krunal Pandya has been innovative with his left-arm orthodox spin in IPL 2026. Be it his high-speed spin or out-of-the-blue bouncers from a slinging action, he has taken the batters by surprise.
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru all-rounder was in his elements on Sunday against Mumbai Indians, returning an economy rate of 6.50. Besides claiming the prized scalp of Suryakumar Yadav, he kept the scoring rate in check at a crucial time of the innings.
Krunal played a key role in RCB’s title-winning campaign last season, finishing with 17 wickets, including a Man of the Match performance against Punjab Kings in the final. The flamboyant cricketer continues to rely on his mindset to remain relevant in a format which offers very little margin for error.
The IPL veteran, who played six seasons with Mumbai Indians before moving to LSG and RCB, stressed on being “one step ahead” of the batter with his bag of tricks.
“I just wanted to be one step ahead and keep the batsman guessing and that worked for us. And yes, Suyash (Sharma) bowled really well. Taking two wickets in (his) first over changed the momentum. And I always believe bowling is about partnerships. And we were able to do that for the team, which was quite satisfying,” Krunal said.
The bouncer has been Krunal’s surprise weapon and even fetched him wickets. “I don’t pre-plan that I want to bowl a fourth, or a fifth, or a sixth-ball bouncer,” he said. “There are days when I’ll bowl two bouncers back-to-back and suddenly I’ll bowl first ball and a sixth ball. So there are no such plans. But yeah, it’s more of a gut feeling when to bowl which ball and I just commit 100 per cent to that.”
With the Impact player rule deepening batting line-ups, Krunal has understood that the trick lies in keeping batters in doubt.
“I have never shied away from trying different and new things,” he said. “Because if you see, previously without an Impact player, you had No. 6 all-rounder or No. 7 all-rounder. Batsmanship was quite different...
“So as a bowler, I always want to be one step ahead with the skill set as well as with the mental battle.”
