The allrounder has been in fine form in domestic competitions leading up to the IPL.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) went into a bidding war with Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction for the services of Krunal Pandya.
Having a base price of INR 2 crore, RR kept raising the bid. RCB went all the way to INR 5.75 crore to seal the signature of the Baroda captain.
The Rajat Patidar-led side will be glad to know that one of their key players is hitting form just ahead of their IPL 2025 opening clash against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders on March 22.
Krunal, who is currently captaining DY Patil Red in the high-profile domestic league DY Patil T20 Trophy, scored a fluent 52 off 31 balls against Jain Irrigation on Monday in the league stage.
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Krunal, who came in to bat at 73/3 in the ninth over, smashed four boundaries and three sixes. He added 71 runs off just 40 balls for the fourth wicket with Aman Khan (48 off 25 balls).
The left-hander’s contribution, alongside quickfire knocks by openers Priyam Garg (32 off 19 balls) and Siddharth Patidar (33 off 24 balls) helped DY Patil Red post a defendable total of 202/6 at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.
Under Krunal’s captaincy, Baroda had reached the 2024-25 Vijay Hazare Trophy quarterfinals. He contributed heavily with 256 runs at an average of 51 from seven matches and 11 wickets.
Before that, he had led Baroda to the semifinal of the 2024 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, claiming eight wickets and 136 runs from six innings at a strike rate of 121.
The elder brother of India’s star player Hardik, Krunal has been a consistent performer in the IPL since 2016 having played for Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Super Giants. The left-armer has claimed 76 wickets from 176 games at an economy of 7.3. He has also scored 1,647 runs at a strike rate of 132.
The southpaw has also played five ODIs and 19 T20Is for India.
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