The southpaw recalled one of the incidents when he had to borrow his friend’s bat to save the blushes.
Mumbai Indians cricketer Hardik Pandya (L) with Krunal Pandya celebrates the wicket of Kolkata Knight Riders cricketer Nitish Rana during the 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 cricket match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians at The Eden Gardens Cricket Stadium in Kolkata on May 9, 2018. (AFP PHOTO)
Recalling the struggles of his family during his cricketing career, India all-rounder Krunal Pandya said that lack of money had forced the Pandya brothers – He and Hardik – to share the only bat the pair had even at Ranji Trophy level.
“At that time a good-quality English willow bat was at least Rs. 7000-8000, which was a huge amount then. Plus, both Hardik and I were playing, so my father had double the responsibility on his shoulders,” said Krunal in a Cricbuzz show ‘Spicy Pitch’.
The southpaw, who now is an extremely valuable asset for India and for Mumbai Indians along with brother Hardik, went down memory lane to recall one of the incidents when he had to borrow his friend’s bat to save the blushes.
Advertisement
“I remember when we were playing for Vadodra in the Vijay Hazare tournament. Hardik had one bat which was gifted to him by Irfan Pathan, and I had another. Just before a crucial game, Hardik’s bat broke. He was batting at number 3 while I was batting at 6. Hardik decided to take my bat and go into the game,” said Krunal.
“It so happened that Hardik was still on the crease and I had to go out to bat next. And I didn’t even have a bat. I finally found a teammate with a spare bat and requested him to give it to me. That’s how bad things were even at the Ranji Trophy level,” he added.
Talking about Krunal, the southpaw has played 18 T20I matches for India so far and has claimed 14 wickets.
Meanwhile, Hardik has played 54 ODIs, 40 T20Is and 11 Tests for India and has scored 957, 310 and 532 runs, respectively. Apart from this, the right-hander has 54 ODI, 38 T20I and 17 Test wickets against his name.
Advertisement
