IPL 2023: Krunal Pandya clarifies on decision to ‘retire hurt’ against MI

During the first innings, Krunal Pandya can be seen struggling during batting and was also limping while taking runs. The player eventually decided to ‘retire hurt’ at the personal score of 49 and the next batsman Nicholas Pooran joined Stoinis on the crease. The LSG skipper was trolled by some people who claimed that he “faked his injury” in order to let Nicholas Pooran come and boost the run rate.

But, the LSG skipper clarified in a post-match presentation that he pulled a muscle due to which he was facing difficulties in walking.

“I was having cramps, I pulled a muscle. I have always been a team player, anything for the team, so happy with the result,” Krunal Pandya said.

Krunal Pandya was back on the ground for fielding and even bowled beautifully giving just 27 runs in his 4-over spell.

But, it was Marcus Stoinis who should be credited with the explosive win. The player started with a bang and continued his onslaught on MI bowlers throughout the last five overs. His unbeaten contribution of 89 runs in just 47 balls pulled LSG back from the fears of a low-score finish.

“Great moment (Mohsin defending 11 runs in the final over). He has not played here for a long time, a big moment for Mohsin, especially bowling the final over after being injured. It was very close, there are a lot of things not going your way. A couple of good overs from the spinners and Mohsin sealed it for us. We have shown that we are a real team, there are no real superstars, and there are different people stepping up and performing for us. We are missing KL (Rahul), but we have KP (Krunal) leading us, and Andy (Flower) has a really good cricket brain,” said Stoinis in a post-match presentation.