Lucknow Super Giants all-rounder Krunal Pandya said taking time off to work on his bowling has put him in good head space.
Krunal Pandya’s three-wicket haul and a 34-run knock helped hosts Lucknow Super Giants beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by five wickets to register their second win of the Indian Premier League 2023 in three matches here at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium. “Very good day at the office. Having more right-handers [to bowl at], I knew I will be bowling four overs today and I was prepared for it. Overall, this year I am in a good headspace, I have much more clarity about how I want to go about my game, whether it’s bat and ball,” Krunal said at the post-match presentation.
“Everything, I guess, once you have clarity up there, things automatically fall in place. I am someone who is very process-driven, doesn’t think that much about the result, and it is coming out really well,” the LSG all-rounder added.
In the third over, Krunal entered the fray and struck the first ball, forcing Mayank Agarwal into an errant drive. With one of his signature faster pitches that slipped through and trapped the batter in front of the stumps, he sent back Anmolpreet Singh. He enticed Aiden Markram forward with the very next ball, which was a little slow in the air. The ball spun just enough to elude the Sunrisers captain’s outstretched defences and slam into the off stump despite his best efforts to get to it.
“In the last four-five months, I took a break from cricket, where I was not playing. I just wanted to work on my skills, especially bowling. I was just playing the white-ball format and what happened in the last two-three years, I just went wider and wider [with my release]. So I just wanted to work on my action, wanted to get tall so that I can get that turn and get that arm ball going as well,” Krunal said.
Coming out to bat at No.4, the left-hander played a crucial knock of 34 runs in 23-ball, adding a partnership of 55 with his captain KL Rahul to help Lucknow take a step closer to their target.
“I am trying to recollect how I played my first four-five years of IPL where I was batting at No.4 consistently for Mumbai [Indians]. In the last three years, for MI when I batted, my role was completely changed, I was batting at No.7,” Krunal said.
“So again, I am trying to find my rhythm and trying to find that consistency in how I would play at that number. Having clarity just helps you to go out there and execute your skills,” he added.