Hardik and I had one bat each even at the Ranji Trophy level: Krunal Pandya recalls early struggles

Krunal also narrated an incident when he had to borrow his friend’s willow to save the blushes.

Pandya brothers, Krunal and Hardik, might be enjoying a lavish lifestyle right now but their cricketing journey at the start was no less than a nightmare.

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Speaking in a Cricbuzz show ‘Spicy Pitch’, Krunal recently opened up about his struggle and stated that he and Hardik had one bat each even at the Ranji Trophy level.

"Bats were expensive. A good English willow bat would be 7000-8000 rupees. Until Ranji cricket, we never had a bat. Irfan Pathan had given Hardik a bat, and I had a bat," Krunal said.

The southpaw then went on to recall an incident when he had to borrow his friend’s willow to save the blushes.

"We were playing against Mumbai, and Hardik's only bat had broken. Hardik used to bat at 3 back then, and I batted lower down. For our last match, Hardik took my bat and he was still in when it was my turn, I requested a teammate, embarrassed, for a spare bat and joined Hardik at the crease. Until the Ranji trophy, bats were a precious commodity," he narrated.

After Hardik made himself a regular in the Mumbai Indians set-up, Krunal then joined him. In the 2018 IPL auction, he became the highest-paid uncapped player in the cash-rich tournament.

Recalling his long-awaited IPL debut in 2016, Krunal said: "I had gone to Mumbai to see a doctor about my shoulder injury, and Hardik asked me to come down to the stadium and watch the match. That was the only game I watched in the stadium, and the following year I debuted for the Mumbai Indians on the same ground a year later against Gujarat Lions. That was quite an emotional moment for me."

Thanks to his brilliance in domestic cricket and in the IPL, Krunal eventually made his India debut two seasons later in the shortest format against the West Indies at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

"Since I was six years old, I dreamt of representing India, and finally when you get the cap, that feeling is surreal. And the first thing I thought of was the incident behind closed door with myself after the Under-25 game against Karnataka which was a pivotal moment for me. In fact, every so often, I have the realization that life has changed so drastically for us," he said.