If I get half of my brother's talent, I will be fine with it: Krunal Pandya

The rise of Krunal Pandya, the elder brother of Hardik, has been interesting. He is yet to play first-class cricket. He has appeared in four List A matches — the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Baroda in 2014-15 — with modest returns of 59 runs at 19.66 and five wickets. He made his T20 debut 2012-13 and made no significant contributions.

Yet all along, his younger sibling was making rapid strides, especially in T20 when he caught the eye with his scintillating performance in the Mushtaq Ali Trophy that prompted Mumbai Indians to pick him for 2015 IPL season and play him regularly.

While Hardik was on his way to becoming a star, eventually breaking into the Indian T20 team earlier this year, when he was picked for the tour of Australia and stayed with the team till the ICC World T20 campaign, Krunal was lingering in the background. While his brother was in the limelight, Krunal was recovering from a shoulder surgery that saw him miss the entire domestic season of 2015-16.

Krunal, bought for Rs 2 crore by Mumbai Indians in the February 2016 auctions, played his first competitive match after exactly a year and three weeks when he was named in the playing XI along with his brother for the home game against Gujarat Lions.

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"A year ago (March 27, 2015), I was playing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy tournament in Pune, and got injured while diving to stop the ball. At that time, I had two tears, and it took me a year to come back. The whole of last season, I did not play the Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy one-dayers and Mushtaq Ali T20s. This IPL is my first competitive cricket after one year," Pandya said after playing a match-winning 37-ball 86 against Delhi Daredevils on Sunday night here.

Krunal Pandya

It was tough for me to come directly and play IPL, which I've never played. But I felt my preparation was really good. My coach in Baroda, Jitendra Singh, was there with me on and off the field. Parents backed me even when I didn't play and was injured. And of course, Hardik. They all really helped me do well in this particular tournament."

Two man-of-the-match awards in 11 matches in his first IPL is, indeed, a bright start for the left-handed explosive batsman and left-arm spinner. His first award came against Royal Challengers Bangalore when he finished with just one wicket but gave away only 15 runs in four overs to help MI restrict RCB to their lowest total this IPL – 151, before the start of the KKR vs RCB game on Monday.

While Krunal has become a regular fixture with MI with his efforts with both the bat and ball, his younger brother by two-and-a-half years has been left out for non-performance. Asked how he looked at this situation in which he was excelling while his brother's form has been indifferent, Krunal said: "That's part and parcel of cricket. You play good, you don't do well. Hardik's a hard working fellow, he'll definitely come back strong. I have full faith in him because the way he prepares himself, the talent that he has and the work ethics he carries, he'll definitely come back."

​Krunal said that he was far below in terms of talents and abilities when compared with Hardik. "If I achieve 50 per cent of his talent, I'll be fine with it," he said.

Certainly, there is no question of jealousy among the two brothers. If anything, there is only pride in each other's performance, one happy for the other. Within hours after Krunal's match-winning effort, Hardik posted on Instagram a photo of the two smiling with the caption: "You beauty what a proud moment for me too see you like this really blessed truly unbelievable innings you played God bless you always You always achieve more heights #brothersfromthesamemother"

Krunal said that the two brothers are inseparable. He said: "We're very, very close to each other. You can say that Hardik and I can't stay without each other, 24/7 we're together. I feel very proud when he does well for whichever team he represents. Same thing with Hardik, he feels very happy when I do well. With us, we've some different kind of relation, only. We can't leave each other. It's simply like that."

They feed off each other's success. "Last year, Hardik played (for MI) and I got the idea how to go about it, how to go about the IPL, how the set-up is. When he used to play for India, and he came back home, we used to discuss. We try to help each other and improve as cricketers."