Krunal Himanshu Pandya (born 24 March 1991) is an Indian

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who plays for

Baroda Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is a city situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district. The city is named for its abundance of banyan ...

in domestic cricket and Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the

Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2007, it features ten city-based Professional sports league organization, fr ...

(IPL). He is an

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...

who bats left-handed and bowls

slow left-arm orthodox Left-arm orthodox spin or left-arm off spin, also known as slow left-arm orthodox spin bowling, is a type of spin bowling in cricket. Bowlers using this technique bowl with their left-arm and a finger spin action. Their normal delivery spins ...

. He made his

T20I Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

debut for

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

in November 2018. In 2021, he scored the fastest half-century by a cricketer on ODI debut. He also formerly captained the

Lucknow Super Giants The Lucknow Super Giants, also known as LSG, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is owned by Sanjiv Goenka of the RPSG Group. Ekana Cricket ...

in the IPL. He is the elder brother of cricketer

Hardik Pandya Hardik Himanshu Pandya (born 11 October 1993) is an Indian international Cricket, cricketer who plays for the India national cricket team, Indian cricket team. He is an all-rounder who is a right-handed middle order batsman and Fast bowling, f ...

Domestic career

Pandya made his first-class debut on October 6, 2016, playing for

during the 2016–17 Ranji Trophy tournament. Within the next few months, he became the leading run scorer and leading wicket taker for

in 2016-17 Vijay Hazare Trophy. He scored 366 runs in 8 matches at an average of 45.75 and strike rate of 81.33. This included three half centuries, with his highest score being 78. In bowling, he took 11 wickets in 8 matches with economy rate of 4.82, at an average of 25.09 and strike rate of 31.10. His best bowling score during the eight matches was 4/20. In 2017, he featured in an India A tri-series victory over South Africa A and Afghanistan A. In October 2018, he was named in India A's squad for the

2018–19 Deodhar Trophy The 2018–19 Deodhar Trophy was the 46th edition of the Deodhar Trophy, a List A cricket competition in India. It was contested between three teams selected by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). It was played from 23 to 27 Octob ...

. Pandya scored 160 and 104 and returned bowling figures of 4/40 and 2/19 in a match against Railways in the

2018–19 Ranji Trophy The 2018–19 Ranji Trophy was the 85th season of the Ranji Trophy, the premier first-class cricket tournament that took place in India between November 2018 and February 2019. Vidarbha were the defending champions. The final took place between ...

. He was named as the captain of Baroda for the

2019–20 Vijay Hazare Trophy The 2019–20 Vijay Hazare Trophy was the 27th edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, an annual List A cricket tournament in India. It took place in September and October 2019, after the 2019–20 Duleep Trophy, Duleep Trophy and before the 2019� ...

. He was selected to play for the

Warwickshire County Cricket Club Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic counties of England, historic county of ...

in the

2022 Royal London One-Day Cup The 2022 Royal London One-Day Cup tournament was a limited overs cricket competition that formed part of the 2022 domestic cricket season in England and Wales. Matches were contested over 50 overs per side, having List A cricket status, with a ...

Indian Premier League

At the 2016 IPL auction,

Mumbai Indians The Mumbai Indians are a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket team based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Indians were founded in 2008 and are owned by India's largest Conglomerate (company), co ...

purchased Pandya for 2 crore. He made his IPL debut in April 2016, playing against Gujarat Lions at

Wankhede Stadium Wankhede Stadium (pronounced �aːnkʰeɖe is an international cricket stadium in Mumbai, India. It is owned and operated by the Mumbai Cricket Association and is the home ground of the Mumbai Indians. It houses the headquarters of the Boar ...

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. For his performances in the 2016 IPL season, he was named in the

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and

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IPL XI. In 2017, he scored 86 from 37 balls and took the wickets of

Quinton De Kock Quinton de Kock (born 17 December 1992) is a South African international cricketer and former captain of the Proteas in all three formats. He currently plays for Titans at the domestic level and for South Africa in T20Is. He was named the Cri ...

and

Zaheer Khan Zaheer Khan (born 8 October 1978) (''Zaheer's official records say he was born in Shrirampur, Maharashtra on October 7. But as it turns out, his actual birth date is October 8, 1978'') is an Indian former professional cricketer who played all f ...

and was adjudged to be the

Player of the Match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

against

Delhi Daredevils The Delhi Capitals, formerly the Delhi Daredevils, also known as DC, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Delhi that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is owned by GMR Group and JSW Sports. Its home groun ...

at ACA-VDCA Stadium, Visakhapatnam. He continued to produce consistent performances with the bat and ball throughout the tournament. He was declared as the Player of the Match for his performance of 47 in a final victory against Rising Pune Supergiant. For his performances in the 2017 IPL season, he was named in the ESPNcricinfo and Cricbuzz IPL XI. In January 2018, Pandya was signed up by the

in the 2018 IPL auction. In the 2022 IPL auction, Pandya was signed up by the

for 8.25 crore. In the 2025 IPL auction, Pandya was signed up by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru for 5.75 crore. He picked 17 wickets and scored 109 runs in that season and also won the Player of the Match award in the final for his great bowling performance against

Punjab Kings The Punjab Kings, also known as PBKS, formerly known as Kings XI Punjab, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in New Chandigarh, Punjab, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise is jointly owned by Mohit Burm ...

. Thus, he became the first player in the history to win two Player of the final award in IPL history.

International career

In October 2018, Pandya was named in India's

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

(T20I) squads for their tours against

the West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island countries and 19 dependencies in three archipelagos: the Greater Antilles, the Lesser An ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. He made his

debut for India against the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

on 4 November 2018, taking one wicket and scoring an unbeaten 21 runs off 9 balls. He was selected for India

team against

and played all three matches. In the first match he conceded 55 runs in four overs, but took 1/26 in the second T20I and won the Player of the Match award in the third match for his bowling performance of 4/36 in 4 overs. In March 2021, he was named in India's

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

(ODI) squad for their series against England. He made his ODI debut for India on 23 March 2021, against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, scoring 58

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

. His fifty was the fastest on debut in an ODI match, coming from 26 balls.

Personal life

He is the elder brother of fellow Indian cricketer

. On 27 December 2017, he married Pankhuri Sharma. The couple have two sons, Kavir Krunal Pandya, born on 18 July 2022 and Vayu Krunal Pandya, born on 21 April 2024. In January 2021, Indian cricketer Deepak Hooda wrote a scathing letter addressed to the Baroda Cricket Association accusing Krunal Pandya of using ‘abusive language’ and ‘threats to end his career’ and Hooda pulled himself out of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2021. On 27 July 2021, he tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. In January 2022, Pandya's

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

account was hacked, and suspicious tweets were posted from an alleged bitcoin scammer. Later in the day, all of the hacker's tweets were deleted and Pandya posted a tweet apologizing.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pandya, Krunal 1991 births Living people Indian cricketers India One Day International cricketers India Twenty20 International cricketers 21st-century Indian sportsmen Baroda cricketers Mumbai Indians cricketers Cricketers from Surat Indian A cricketers Lucknow Super Giants cricketers Royal Challengers Bengaluru cricketers