His 21.23 average and 14.76 strike rate are his best in an IPL edition.
Krunal Pandya was always a quality operator. But with quality, it doesn’t necessarily mean taking wickets. In fact, he was never a wicket-taker before this season.
The most wickets he had taken in a season were 12, twice in 2018 and 2019. But his economy rate never went over 7.98. Even in a high-scoring 2024 year, Krunal gave only 7.72 runs per over and established himself as one of the best defensive spinners in the league.
However, that changed in IPL 2025; he has already dismissed 13 batters, surpassing his previous best. His 21.23 average and 14.76 strike rate are his best in an IPL edition. But that has come at the expense of the economy rate; he has conceded 8.62 runs per over, the most in a season.
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One thing that Krunal has done adeptly is pace variation. He now varies his pace more, slowing down and speeding up throughout the over. Earlier, he would bowl arm balls at high speeds to cramp batters, which helped him remain frugal.
He still bowls quicker balls for most of his spell, but changes it according to the batter and pitch. For instance, the deck in Delhi was slow with low bounce, so Krunal smartly reduced his speed and extracted more turn. That also had to do with Faf du Plessis’ struggles, who would have liked more pace on his bat to get a few shots, but Krunal bowled outside the leg-stump line with a loopy trajectory at 87.1 km/h to dismiss him.
In contrast, he kept firing at a high pace against the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium earlier in the tournament. That surface didn’t have enough assistance for slow bowlers, and dew made it more arduous. So, Krunal employed a flatter trajectory to give nothing to batters and scalped four wickets, all at over 109 km/h+ speed.
“I have always been an economical bowler. As a bowler, I have always wanted to be one step ahead. I have worked on my bowling. So, if you see the variations in speed. Knowing the batsmen’s strength, I am trying to use it to my advantage,” exclaimed Krunal after a Man of the Match performance against Delhi Capitals.
RCB formed an interesting bowling pair in the IPL 2025 auction, buying Krunal Pandya, who was then a defensive spinner, and Suyash Sharma, an inexperienced and vulnerable leg spinner. But the duo has formed a successful partnership, and Krunal has a significant role.
He has come out of his comfort zone to snare more wickets to give cushion to Suyash, who has been mighty economical. Suyash has an economy rate of 7.97 this season and has acted as a defensive spinner despite being a wrist spinner. That has been possible because Krunal has been the wicket-taker, even if he is having the worst season in terms of economy rate.
So, RCB won’t mind if Krunal continues the same role because Suyash has held runs from his end. They still have a wicket-taker and run-controller, which is an ideal spin pair for the T20 format. Krunal has made a lot of things easier for RCB with a major transformation from a defensive spinner to a wicket-taker.
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