Ranji Trophy: Krunal Pandya makes a sizzling comeback after 2 years

All-rounder Krunal Pandya made a strong comeback in his first-class cricket after 2 years. The 27-year-old had earlier made his first-class debut for Baroda in the Ranji Trophy 2016-17 but sadly ended the season playing just one game as he sustained an injury which ruled him out of entire season. Agonizingly he also missed the Ranji season 2017-18 due to another injury and finally made a comeback this season.

On the other hand, Krunal enjoyed a lot of success in the white ball game, he made his mark with his exceptional performance in Vijay Hazare trophy 2016-17 by becoming highest run-getter and leading wicket-taker for Baroda. The all-rounder scored 366 runs in 8 matches with an average of 45.75. In the bowling department, he took 8 wickets with a decent economy rate of 4.82.

In the year 2017, he was rewarded for his performance as he was called up for India A who featured against South Africa A and Afghanistan. Considering his IPL performance for Mumbai Indians and List A exhibits with Baroda and India A, he was selected in the Indian T20I squad against West Indies and the elder Pandya made his debut in the same series.

Twin centuries and 6-fer for Krunal

On day 1, when Baroda was struggling at 56/4 Krunal rescued his team scoring 160 off 219 balls and helped them post a solid total of 313. On the second day, the 27-year-old stared with the ball taking 4/40 and helped his team restrict Railways for 200. While 3 of his 4 wickets were the top 4 batsmen from the opposition which included Prashant Gupta, Ghandar Bhatawadekar, Nithin Bhille.

Coming to bat in the second innings where his team was reeling at 49/5 the left-hander notched up another century scoring 104 off 143 balls which includes 14 fours and 1 six whereas no other batsman in his team has crossed the 15-run mark. He took 2 wickets in the second innings as his team won the game by 146 runs. Baroda secured 6 points with this win and are placed 9th in the Elite group A and B.

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