Bhuvneshwar Kumar said it with the quiet pleasure of someone making a point too good to argue with. “Since last year, you have bowled more bouncers than me.”
Krunal Pandya laughed. “Why should fast bowlers have all the fun? Spinners also should have fun.”
Before Sunday’s game against Mumbai Indians, Krunal had debuted a new haircut — braids, paired with a fresh tattoo, chosen after he polled his Instagram followers on four options and went with the winner. He had been saving it for the right moment.
He always is. Not a spinner who occasionally surprises, but one who has spent the last two years dismantling the category itself.
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On Sunday night at Wankhede, Suryakumar Yadav was sweeping cleanly. Krunal had already shown him everything: the bouncers, the side-arm angles, the higher release. Then he went back to basics. Leg-stump line. The sweep’s ideal arc. But he slowed it, made it dip early. Suryakumar could not get under it. Holed out to deep backward square leg.
The bouncer to Venkatesh Iyer in the 2025 IPL opener was the public announcement. Venkatesh walked in without a helmet. A left-arm spinner, 12th over, full house. The expected ball was a length delivery, maybe a quicker one. Krunal bowled a bouncer. Venkatesh asked for his helmet. Next ball, dragged one back onto his stumps.
“It was a very well-thought-out plan,” Krunal told ESPNcricinfo. “At the start of the season I told our spin-bowling coach Malolan that I want to get a wicket on my bouncer — that’s my goal this year. And in the very first game, I had the opportunity.”
The bouncer has since become a settled weapon. Against Will Jacks at Wankhede the previous year, he trusted a read — “He’s not expecting a bouncer over here” — and bowled it. Virat Kohli took the catch at deep square leg. This season, Ravindra Jadeja had to duck under two in the same tight over. Shivam Dube swayed away from a couple before top-edging a 119 kph bumper. And last night, Krunal bowled a bouncer at his own brother. Hardik let it fly past him. The logic applies to everyone. No exceptions.
“Funnily, since then, I’m seeing the trend — so many spinners have started bowling bouncers, around the world, including in practice sessions.” He does not say it with pride. Just as a fact about a game that has quietly moved.
As he showed with Surya’s wicket, a bowler with every variation got the wicket with the one batsmen think they know best. Not just bowling the unexpected ball, but making the expected one feel forgotten. That is the real trick.