Krunal Pandya Turns Up Heat Against Hardik Pandya's Gujarat Titans

image-lgrvdmi8Krunal snapped 2/16 vs Gujarat (AP Photo)

The left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya turned up the heat against his brother Hardik Pandya's Gujarat Titans at the Ekana Stadium, pushing the reigning champions on the back foot on a sluggish track. Pandya completed a misery of a spell, scalping two wickets for just 16 runs.

The spinner snapped the wickets of GT's openers - Shubman Gill on a two-ball duck and Wriddhiman Saha for a 37-ball 47. 

On a tailor-made surface for the left-arm orthodox tweaker, the 32-year-old Krunal got introduced in the second over of the match, and he removed the in-form Gill on the very second ball that he bowled. 

After losing a wicket up-front, Hardik Pandya pushed himself to Number 3. The punt worked like a charm for the Titans, as the skipper stitched a noteworthy partnership with Saha.

With Saha batting at a different surface, captain Hardik took calculative measures against Ravi Bishnoi, hitting a boundary and a maximum.

However, soon after that, LSG's skipper KL Rahul reintroduced Krunal into the attack for his last over of the day, only to send the GT opener back to the hut.

Saha, who was playing beautifully till then, tried smoking Krunal out of the park and decided to dance down the track, but the bowler outsmarted him by pulling his length a touchback. Ultimately, the opener miscued his hit straight to long-on.

At the time of writing, Lucknow Super Giants are firmly over the visitors, with GT being at 97-4 after the 16th over. GT may have lost one too many wickets, but they have got their skipper, who is batting at his highest score in IPL 2023, unbeaten in the middle alongside David Miller.