Krunal Pandya’s Unique Bowling Technique Captivates Cricket Fans
Dinesh Karthik has expressed immense admiration for Krunal Pandya, highlighting the Royal Challengers Bengaluru all-rounder’s pivotal role in his team’s outstanding performance in the IPL 2026 campaign. As RCB prepares to face Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on April 27, Karthik emphasized that Krunal is a player who will leave a lasting impression on the game.
Krunal has consistently been one of the standout performers for RCB over the past two seasons. His all-round skills have provided crucial consistency, especially during high-pressure moments. However, this year, his innovative bowling technique has taken the cricketing world by surprise.
Karthik Believes Krunal’s Bowling is Very Special
Karthik further elaborated on Krunal’s evolution as a bowler and how his short-pitched deliveries have redefined the perception of finger spin in T20 cricket. He noted that such deliveries would have been unimaginable a few years ago.
Karthik stated:
“Krunal Pandya is a player that this game is going to remember for a long time. He’s doing something that has not been done before, pushing the boundaries of what a finger-spinner means. He’s bowling deliveries that people really couldn’t fathom a few years ago and he’s becoming a master at it and he’s using it very cleverly when the situation demands and he’s using that as a strength of his to put pressure back on the person that he’s bowling against.”
He added:
“It’s actually quite interesting to see how he goes about it mentally as well. He’s not someone who’s just doing it because it looks cool. He knows that given the moment when he does want to use it, it does create a doubt in the batter and a lot of the times delivers the result that he wants out of that ball.”
Krunal’s approach has already sparked a new trend, with Mitchell Santner adopting a similar strategy when MI faced CSK in Wankhede stadium.
Krunal Explains the Idea Behind the Tactic
After RCB’s victory against MI, Krunal discussed the rationale behind his unconventional bowling tactic. He mentioned that the current state of the game presents significant challenges for bowlers, particularly finger spinners.
Krunal said:
“I have never shied away from trying different and new things. Because if you see with the impact player rule, previously, without an impact player, you had a number six all-rounder, a number seven all-rounder. Batsmanship was quite different, but now having 8 pure batters, plus the skill set. You see the young boys like Mukul, Vaibhav, so many of them are just coming and hitting from ball one consistently.”
The RCB all-rounder continued:
“So again, as a bowler, I always want to be one step ahead with the skill set as well as with the mental battle as well. It has just purely come from that. Whether it is me bending my knee and bowling that ball or a bouncer. I am glad that it is coming out well and hope that in this format, there are finger spinners who will survive and who can take something out of it. And do well in this format. Because for finger spinner with having flat tracks has 8 batters, it has become very difficult. So yeah, I am glad that I have been able to contribute in a nice way.”
Instinct Over Pre-Meditation
Krunal emphasized that instinct plays a more significant role than pre-planning in his bowling strategy. He explained that his decisions are often based on gut feelings rather than set plans.
Krunal concluded:
“I am someone who follows my gut. I don’t pre-plan that I want to bowl a 4th or 5th or 6th ball bouncer. There are days where I will bowl two bouncers back-to-back, and suddenly I will bowl first ball and a 6th ball. So there are no such plans that I want to bowl. But yeah, it is more sort of a gut feeling when to bowl which ball, and I just commit 100% to that.”
RCB is now aiming to secure their third consecutive win as they prepare to face Delhi Capitals.
