Featuring in his maiden 50-over game for India, all-rounder Krunal Pandya impressed one and all with his fearless batting display in the ODI series opener against England at Pune on Tuesday (March 23).
Krunal, who received his maiden ODI cap from brother Hardik Pandya, came to the crease when the hosts were struggling at 205/5 in the 41st over. Despite the pressure situation, the southpaw didn’t let the English bowlers dictate terms as he slammed a half-century off just 26 deliveries.
When Krunal was hitting shots all over the park, KL Rahul also joined him in the fun during the death overs. The wicketkeeper-batsman, who endured a poor T20I series, returned to form with a dazzling fifty in 39 balls.
The pair of Krunal (58* off 31 balls; 7 fours and 2 sixes) and Rahul (62* off 43 balls; 4 fours and 4 sixes) added an unbroken 112-run partnership off 57 balls as India finished with a mammoth 317/5 in 50 overs.
Earlier, opener Shikhar Dhawan (98 off 106 balls) and skipper Virat Kohli (56 off 60 balls) slammed half-centuries to lay the foundation for a big total.
For their stunning batting display in the slog overs, Krunal and Rahul garnered rich praises from the cricket fraternity on Twitter.
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