Mumbai: Royal Challengers Bangalore win 18th straight game mumbai indians Got a taste of it on Sunday night at Wankhede Stadium Krunal Pandya. The all-rounder enjoyed a special match against his former team as he debuted his new hairstyle – a Jamaican braid, which fans say could have been inspired by England pacer Jofra Archer – and was delighted to beat his brother Hardik Pandya. Krunal, reveling in a moment that might give him bragging rights at home for a few days, quipped that it was always a case of “a Pandya has to win”.Push boundaries with our YouTube channel. Subscribe now!In a high-scoring match, RCB scored a whopping 240 runs for four before restricting MI to 222 runs for four. On a flat pitch that meant nothing to the bowlers, Krunal played a tight spell of 1 for 26 in four overs, taking the crucial wicket of India T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav, who looked dangerous in batting No. 33 before sweeping his left-arm spinner to deep behind square leg. Krunal thus helped RCB spoil MI’s innings in the middle overs, which ultimately proved decisive. On a surface he is familiar with, Krunal once again proved why he is a valuable asset for RCB.“Wankhede has always been close to my heart. I have been playing here for six years and have been lucky enough to win three trophies,” Krunal said at the post-match press conference.“So it’s always special to be here and as I said last year, in the end the points have to go home. One Pandya has to win and I think I’m the lucky one among them,” he added.Since moving to RCB from Lucknow Supergiants in 2025, Krunal has become a dependable figure in their ranks. He played a major role in the team’s title-winning run last season, taking 17 wickets in 15 matches at 22.29 and contributing 109 runs at 18.16 with the bat. The run included a superb performance of 2 for 17 in four overs in the final against Kings XI Punjab, which turned the match around. Dubbed ‘Man of the Match’, Krunal took the wickets of Prabhsmilan Singh and Josh Inglis to turn the tide in RCB’s favour, with Kings XI Punjab trailing by 6 runs while chasing 191 runs. So far in IPL 2026, Krunal has taken 5 wickets for the defending champions @ 23.60 with an economy rate of @ 9.07 in four matches. Pandya’s spell helped RCB gain control and win the midfield battle. More important than the numbers is his ability to step up in big moments. The 35-year-old Baroda captain is the only cricketer to win the Man of the Match award in two IPL finals.“Don’t pre-plan bowling bouncers but try to be one step ahead of the batsman”One “surprise weapon” that Krunal has successfully used against batsmen is pinballers – rather than the bowling usually associated with spinners. Krunal said he uses pitches based on his instincts and stays one step ahead of the batsmen.“I never shy away from trying different new things because under the impact player rule, before, you had all-rounders at No. 6 or 7 and the batting skills were very different. But now you have pure batsmen at No. 8 (coming in) and coupled with the skill set, young boys like Mukul (Choudhary) and Vaibhav (Sooryavanshi) are able to bat consistently from No. 1. As a bowler, I want to be a step ahead both technically and mentally.““I’m happy that it’s doing well and hope that in this format there are some finger-spin games that survive and can take something from it and do well. Because it has become very difficult for finger-spin games with flat tracks and eight batsmen,” Krunal added.Batters are often surprised by short fastballs pitched by spinners and tend to leave the ball alone. Krunal said his bodyguards were pre-planned but instinctive. “I’m a guy who goes with his gut. I don’t plan in advance that I’m going to bowl the fourth, fifth or sixth ball as a bouncer. Sometimes I’ll bowl two bouncers back to back and all of a sudden I’ll bowl the first ball and the sixth ball,” he said.“But yeah, it’s more of a gut feeling when to bowl which ball and I just go into it 100 per cent. People tend to say a lot about my bouncers and balls and they look very different and interesting… but I’ve been working on the basics of bowling and if you see I’m tall and I’m able to get the bounce, then I’m (also) able to get the batsmen out with spin and deception in the flight. I don’t practice bowling bouncers that much. It’s just that I actually competed,” he explained. “Kohli should be fine” Meanwhile, Krunal said Virat Kohli The batting superstar did not play in the second half due to an ankle injury and should be “fine”. “I haven’t spoken to the physio yet, but I think he’ll be fine. I think (there’s) nothing to worry about,” Krunal said.
