This is for my dad: Krunal Pandya breaks down during interview after scoring fastest fifty on ODI debut
“This is for my father,” said Krunal Pandya after breaking down in the mid-innings interview before signalling to end the conversation prematurely. Minutes later, he was seen crying hugging his brother Hardik Pandya.
Krunal Pandya could not hold back his tears in the mid-innings interview after smashing the world record of registering the fastest ODI fifty on debut in the 1st ODI against England in Pune on Tuesday.
"This is for my father," said Krunal Pandya after breaking down in the mid-innings interview before signalling to end the conversation prematurely. Minutes later, he was seen crying hugging his brother Hardik Pandya.
Krunal and Hardik Pandya lost their father in January this year. Krunal was leading Baroda in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and he had decided to leave the camp to be with his family.
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Pandya, who was given his ODI cap before the start of the match, got to his fifty off just 26 balls which is the fastest in the world by any cricketer on ODI debut.
Krunal's blistering innings is also the joint fastest ODI fifty for India against England and the fastest ODI fifty by an Indian since 2012
This is also only the third occasion when an Indian had scored a fifty on ODI debut batting at No.7 or below.
The last to do so was Ravindra Jadeja against Sri Lanka in 2009.
Krunal remained unbeaten on 58 off just 31 balls. The left-hander hit seven fours and two sixes in his swashbuckling innings.
Krunal sittched an unbroken 122-run stand - the highest in the Indian innings - for the sixth wicket with KL Rahul (62*) to help India reach 317 for 5 after being asked to bat first by England captain Eoin Morgan.
The duo added 111 of their 112 runs in the last nine overs as they sent the English bowlers on a leather hunt.
India got off to a cautious start as openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan put on 39 runs inside the first ten overs.
Skipper Virat Kohli next joined Dhawan in the middle after Rohit got out and the duo started accumulating runs at a brisk pace. The left-handed Dhawan started off the 24th over with a six and as a result, he brought up his half-century. Both Kohli and Dhawan put on 105 runs for the second wicket, and it also saw Kohli going past his 50. But in trying to accelerate further, skipper Kohli (56) ended up giving his wicket away to Mark Wood, reducing hosts to 169/2 in the 33rd over.
Shreyas Iyer, who came out to bat at number four, was not able to impress with the bat and he departed after scoring just six runs. England managed to bog down Dhawan when the left-handed was in his 90s, and this brought about his dismissal in the 39th over. The left-handed Dhawan (98) went for a pull shot off the bowling of Stokes, but he ended up handing a simple catch to Morgan at mid-wicket, reducing India to 197/4.
Soon after, Hardik Pandya (1) also ended up giving his wicket to Stokes and this left the hosts in a spot of bother with 9.3 overs still left in the innings. Making his debut, Krunal did now show any nerves and he smashed boundaries consistently to help India rocket along in the final overs. The left-hander also registered a half-century in his first ODI and he created the record for the fastest fifty scored by a debutant in ODI cricket -- 26 balls.
In the final five overs, the hosts managed to score 67 more runs and India cruised past the 300-run mark. Krunal and Rahul clearly took the English bowlers by surprise as they kept matching each other shot for shot.
