IPL 2019 | Wicket stays same throughout the match at Wankhede, says Krunal Pandya

05/03/2019

Krunal Pandya has stated that the wicket stays same throughout the 40 overs of a match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, implying that the toss does not matter much. In Thursday’s nail-biting encounter between Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad, the former won the match in Super Over.

Mumbai Indians went against the popular decision and opted to bat first against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Things didn't pan out as expected and MI could only manage 162, an under par score on the Wankhede pitch despite the ball sticking on. However, SRH also could only level the scores as the pitch played out the same way in the second half, as pointed out by Krunal Pandya.

“Quite happy with the result, always a good feeling when the team wins. Wankhede, whatever I have played here, the wicket stays the same so batting or bowling first doesn't make a difference,” he said at the post-match presentation ceremony, reported Cricbuzz.

Quinton de Kock huffed and puffed to score a sluggish 69 off 58 balls but none of the other batsmen could even cross the 30-run mark. Eventually, MI ended up at least 15 runs short of the target as the usual culprits Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard failed to get going in this game. In reply, SRH opener Wriddhiman Saha hit a quickfire 25 before getting dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah in the fourth over. The Indian pacer followed it up with Martin Guptill’s wicket in the sixth over and SRH stood at 59 at the end of the powerplay. Senior Pandya did not shy away from the fact that they ended up at a sub-par total.

“I thought we were 15 runs short, so we had to bowl well. The powerplay didn't go according to our plans, but Bumrah gave two crucial breakthroughs,” expressed the 28-year-old.

“Chahar and my job was to keep it tight in the middle overs. As a spinner at Wankhede you need to bowl variable pace because bowling the same pace allows the batsman to set himself up and hit on a batting wicket like this, so we knew we had to keep it tight."

Manish Pandey had struck a last ball six in order to level the scores. SRH could only set a target of nine runs in the Super Over which was a stroll in the park for Hardik and Pollard. Krunal said that there was no question of anyone else coming in to bat in the Super Over.

“I knew Hardik and Pollard were going in to bat, so there was no debate about anyone else going in,” he concluded.