Veteran cricketer Krunal Pandya is basking in the glory of winning his second successive Indian Premier League (IPL) with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) recently. The 35-year-old played a key role with the bat and ball during the season in his team’s successful title defence. Pandya picked 1/23 with the ball in the finals, with the key wicket of Jos Buttler, to swing the game towards his side.
Krunal recently spoke to the Times of India, where a lot of topics were touched upon. One was his aspirations to play for the national side again. Last time the all-rounder wore the national colours was in 2021, when he was part of the Shikhar Dhawan-led side that toured Sri Lanka.
When asked about his dream of a comeback to the Indian side, the player said that the hope is always there. He also added that he was hopeful to get a call to represent the national side once more. The senior Pandya brother said that playing for India tops the list and there is no better feeling. In his childhood, there was no IPLand he recounted winning the player of the match and series awards in Australia, New Zealand, and the West Indies.
During the same interview, the veteran star also said that he doesn’t think about selection anymore. He had added that it was a human tendency to feel disappointed when he didn’t get the call-up, but his immense love for the game and his passion are a reminder as to why the player took up the sport in the first place, and added that his dream of playing international cricket was realized in 2018 when he made his debut.
How did Krunal Pandya perform in IPL 2026?
RCB star played all 16 games for his team this year, scoring 226 runs with the bat, with one fifty, at an average of 37 and a strike-rate of 145. His best knock of the season was against his former side, the Mumbai Indians, where the player scored 73 off 46 balls, which saw his team get a last-ball win in Raipur.
With the ball, the veteran star picked 14 wickets with an economy rate of 8.42 runs per over. His best bowling figures of 2/30 came against the Rajasthan Royalswhere he claimed the wickets of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Shimron Hetmyer.
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