‘Virat was telling me…’ – Krunal Pandya recalls his match-winning knock against DC during IPL 2025

Krunal Pandya has recalled the time he took the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to victory over the Delhi Capitals (DC) in a tight game at the Arun Jaitley Stadium during last year’s Indian Premier League (IPL). 

The two sides are set to face off for a second time this season on Monday, April 27, at the same venue that witnessed Krunal’s heroics in 2025. 

The Baroda all-rounder came in to bat when RCB were struggling at 26 for 3 at the end of four overs, having lost Jacob Bethell, Devdutt Padikkal, and Rajat Patidar early. The left-hander took the batter into his own hands and went on to score an unbeaten 73 off 47 balls, hitting five fours and four sixes along the way to help his side win by six wickets with nine balls to spare. 

Krunal talked about how the pitch was relatively tricky to bat on, and it took him some time to get used to the conditions. The all-rounder was underprepared prior to his match-winning innings, having not had many opportunities to bat all season long. However, he took Virat Kohli’s advice on board and guided his side to the win. 

“I had not batted much before that innings because our top order was doing so well, and I walked in at 20 for 3. It was around our seventh or eighth game, and I had hardly batted in the tournament. We were under pressure at that point. Virat was telling me, ‘Just keep holding your shape, we will do it.’ In my first 17-18 balls, I did not score much, but I knew we had power hitters like Tim David, Romario, and Jitesh behind me, so if we took the game deep, we would be in it. Once I got set, I started playing my shots, and everything fell into place,” Krunal Pandya said on JioStar.

Krunal played a crucial role in helping RCB secure their maiden IPL title in 2025. The spin-bowling all-rounder took 17 wickets and scored 109 runs in their title-winning year. 

The 35-year-old is heading into the game against DC on Monday in a similar form as last year, when he did not get many opportunities with the bat. This season, his best outing whilst batting came against the Gujarat Titans in the previous game, where he scored an unbeaten 23 at a strike-rate of 191.66 to take his side home.