RCB Recap 2025: Krunal Pandya sinks KKR’s boat with a spell to remember
It was a rambunctious start to the IPL 2025 campaign for RCB as they pushed back KKR in their own den. It needed something special from the bowlers after Ajinkya Rahane and Sunil Narine got off the leash and turned the tide around despite the fall of Quinton de Kock early in the game.
After a partnership of 103 runs for the second wicket, the fall of Narine did bring in those calming showers in the RCB camp amidst the scorching heat. They needed some momentum on their side, and it was Krunal Pandya stepping up with the goods.
Ajinkya Rahane, who looked in terrific touch until then, wanted to go all guns blazing against the southpaw. An arm ball sliding down the leg side offered a glorious opportunity for Rahane to try and pull it over the deep fine leg fielder. However, beaten by pace, he imparted more elevation to the ball and Rasikh Salam held on to a fine catch on the ropes.
Following the fall of Rahane, KKR traded mixed blows to RCB. With Venkatesh Iyer still trying to break free, Krunal Pandya surprised him with a bouncer on the leg side. A bumper from a spinner is usually a shocking route for any batter but Venky thought that he could brave it. The following delivery saw Krunal dishing out an arm ball outside the off-pole and Iyer, too greedy for a lofted drive over covers, misjudged the height and dragged the cherry onto his own timbre.
Krunal won the mind games and opened up a brilliant opportunity for RCB to cement their dominance. What’s more, the Knights hadn’t seen the final blow of Pandya yet. Rinku Singh seemed to be bidding time for a full-blown flourish towards the end at which time Krunal knew the exact route to leave the southpaw rattled.
A quicker one from Pandya on the stumps saw Rinku moving very uncomfortably in his crease and the ball breached his defences to crash onto his furniture. Pandya’s exceptional middle-overs brilliance left KKR reeling at ground zero and the recovery seemed pretty modest to bother RCB. Pandya’s figures of 3/29 saw RCB limit KKR to 174/8 from 20 overs, and eventually, the batters saw it through to help the visitors open the IPL 2025 campaign with a win.
