Former Indian cricketer Deep Dasgupta heaped praise on Krunal Pandya after his record ODI debut in the first match against England, saying the all-rounder is “emotional and it shows”, but he overcame a personal loss and brilliantly delivered and proved that he belongs to the highest level.
The left-hander smashed a blistering knock of unbeaten 58 to take over the record of fastest one-day international (ODI) fifty off just 26 balls by a debutant, as well as, took one wicket to help India beat England by 66 runs in the first ODI to take a 1-0 lead in the ongoing three-match series in Pune.
An emotional Krunal on Tuesday dedicated his maiden ODI fifty to his late father, who passed away in January 2021 following a cardiac arrest, and later he and his brother Hardik Pandya shared an emotional moment on the field during the first ODI with the cricket fans and cricketers hailing the latter.
Dasgupta told Sports Today: “We are all aware of the bereavement in the family and obviously, they were very close. Obviously, if it's your dad. That's the kind of character that Krunal is. He is emotional and we have seen that before. He is emotional and it shows.”
The former wicketkeeper-batsman further lauded the all-rounder for his phenomenal batting on his ODI debut against one of the best teams in England.
He said, “That's the other thing about the new generation, they let their emotions show, they are not afraid of showing their emotions which is just fine. End of the day if you are doing the job it's just fine. It's good to see Krunal getting a game in ODI format as well and also letting the world kind of know that he belonged there.”
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Dasgupta continued, “It was such an important innings because at that point in time. Krunal came in and he just took it away, took the game away from the English bowlers, and then obviously KL Rahul followed. Krunal, what a knock from him! The way he came and batted was phenomenal.”
Meanwhile, the commentator credited the Indian Premier League (IPL) for helping the young cricketers across the world make the transition from domestic to international cricket with ease.
He further explained, “It just gave you the feeling that they have been there before, they have done it. I guess to a certain extent you have got to give credit to IPL as well. As youngsters coming through they play IPL, I won't say international cricket but a couple of notches below international cricket.”
Dasgupta signed off by saying, “The fact that they spend time with the international players. How they set themselves up for big games under pressure. I mean all of that. Apart from the level of cricket, IPL has everything else, crowd, pressure, spotlight, everything else so I think it's a great kind of learning process for the players coming through the system.”
