Whatever Experience I Had, It Had To Come In Right: RCB Hero Krunal Pandya

Royal Challengers Bengaluru all-rounder Krunal Pandya acknowledged that he had to dig deep into his decade-long experience of playing the game to help his side beat Mumbai Indians by 12 runs in an edge-of-the-seat thriller in Mumbai on Monday. Just when it seemed Mumbai Indians would chase down a steep target of 222 with Hardik Pandya (42) and Tilak Varma (56) batting with ferocity, Krunal kept his composure and grabbed three three wickets in the last over to take the wind out of the home team's sails, managing to tie them down to 209 for nine.

"The amount of games I have played in the last 10 years, whatever experience I had, it had to come in right. Sometimes, you want to commit but you know it is important to commit 100 per cent," said Krunal, who returned excellent figures of 4 for 45, after the match.

"So the execution becomes much on your side. I was clear in a way where I wanted to commit fully to whatever ball I wanted to bowl," Krunal added as RCB clinched their first victory at the Wankhede Stadium in 10 years.

On his bonding with brother Hardik, who hit some lofty shots and was on the verge of taking the game away from RCB with his 15-ball knock, Krunal said the two cherish the affection they have for each other.

"The bond that we have, at the end of the day, we knew only one (Pandya) would win. But the love and affection we have for each other is very natural. He (Hardik) batted well. We won, and I also wanted to win, he also wanted to win. I feel for him," said Krunal.

Krunal added that RCB skipper Rajat Patidar always back his players, one of the reasons they have started so strongly in IPL 2025.

RCB are currently third with six points from four games while MI have just two from five matches.

"Rajat has