Krunal Pandya Recalls His Days With Hardik Pandya During Ranji Trophy:
The Indian all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya represent Baroda on the domestic cricket and Mumbai Indians in the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL). Although the two brothers are worth more than a million dollars for Mumbai Indians in their IPL 2020 bid, things for the now-famed Pandya family were not always the same. In a recent interview, elder brother Krunal Pandya opened up, remembering one of the stories from the times when the two cricketers made their way up through domestic cricket.
Krunal Pandya said in the interview that it was hard for their father to buy costly cricket kits for each of his two children. Krunal added that he and Hardik Pandya used to share a bat growing up, before Irfan Pathan, the former Indian bowling all-rounder, and Baroda player, gave Krunal a bat himself. During the Indian domestic season, 2012-2013 both Krunal Pandya and Hardik Pandya joined Baroda. Indian cricketer Irfan Pathan was a senior member of Baroda camp at that time, having joined the team in 2000.
Then, Krunal Pandya recalled an incident of a Ranji Trophy game where Hardik Pandya broke his bat while playing. Hardik had no spare bat left and had to borrow one from his brother Krunal to bat at the top. Because Krunal Pandya was expected to bat in the lower order, Hardik hoped the equipment would be returned to his elder brother once he got out.
But, wickets continued to fall at the other end, causing Hardik to stay at the crease until his brother arrived. Krunal then had to ask one of his teammates for a spare bat in the dressing room, which was very uncomfortable to do according to him in the interview. Luckily, he was offered a willow by a teammate and the elder brother Pandya joined Hardik at the crease.
Mumbai Indians have retained both Hardik Pandya and Krunal Pandya for IPL 2020 during the IPL 2020 trading window. While Hardik was retained for US$ 1.5 million (₹11 crore), his brother Krunal was retained for US$ 1.2 million (₹8.8 crore). The two all-rounders were originally scheduled to appear for their opening match for Mumbai Indians on March 29. However, the current coronavirus pandemic and lockdown in India prompted the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to postpone IPL 2020 until further notice.
