After record-breaking fifty on debut, Krunal Pandya breaks down remembering late father
Pune, Mar 23: India batsman Krunal Pandya smashed the fastest fifty by an ODI debutant during the first match against England here on Tuesday and broke down remembering his father who died in January this year after suffering a heart attack.
The 30-year-old Krunal was handed the India cap by his younger brother and star all-rounder Hardik.
He reached the half century mark in just 26 balls, overtaking John Morris (35 balls) of New Zealand.
Krunal broke down while being interviewed by the host broadcaster after his blistering unbeaten knock of 58 (31 balls), which was studded with seven fours and two sixes.
"This one is for my father," was all that Krunal could tell commentator Murali Kartik when asked about his unbeaten knock before being overwhelmed by emotions.
He was enveloped by Hardik in a tight hug soon after.
For Krunal, the last three months have been an emotional roller-coaster.
In January, he had an ugly tiff with state-mate Deepak Hooda who accused the Baroda captain of bullying him during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy camp.
Hooda left the camp after that and was subsequently suspended for the entire season by the Baroda team management, which backed Krunal on the matter.
Weeks after the controversy, Krunal lost his father Himanshu and had to leave the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy bio-bubble to be with his family.
This is all heart ??
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 23, 2021
A teary moment for ODI debutant @krunalpandya24 post his brilliant quick-fire half-century??@hardikpandya7 #TeamIndia #INDvENG @Paytm pic.twitter.com/w3x8pj18CD
ODI debut for @krunalpandya24 ?
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 23, 2021
International debut for @prasidh43 ?#TeamIndia @Paytm #INDvENG pic.twitter.com/Hm9abtwW0g
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
