Blood indeed runs thicker than water: Krunal Pandya’s reply should quash Hardik Pandya rift rumours

It all started this past Sunday when Hardik Pandya's MI hosted Krunal's RCB at the Wankhede Stadium.

Amid rift reports, Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Krunal Pandya has picked his brother Hardik Pandya as one of his two favourite finishers in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Krunal’s choice means a lot. Recently, social media has been abuzz with speculations of a rift between the brothers.

Can you believe it? Hardik Pandya was bowled a bouncer by Krunal, his own brother! (PTI)

It all started this past Sunday when Hardik’s Mumbai Indians hosted RCB at the Wankhede Stadium. In the past, whenever Krunal and Hardik’s teams were in action in the IPL, both players greeted each other with a lot of warmth. This time, though, both seemed a bit reserved. And that fuelled those speculations to all intents and purposes.

Then, during the match, when Hardik came on to bat, Krunal tried one of his now-famous bouncers, but Hardik succeeded in ducking under it. However, Hardik appeared to be a bit stunned. Like he didn't expect that from his own brother. Then, when Jacob Duffy and Romario Shepherd combined to see the back of Hardik, Krunal was overly elated. Again, Hardik looked a bit surprised.

Krunal celebrating like that… it could be because Hardik could have finished the game, and he was happy that a big threat was out of their way. Or maybe he was showing that he was giving his team’s cause more importance.

However, it was interpreted differently on social media, with many suggesting something was not right between the brothers. The argument was MI’s chase of 240 was quite in the doldrums for the large part of their innings, so Krunal's celebration in that manner didn’t quite add up.

Anyway, Krunal has now kind of quashed those rumours by picking him as one of the best finishers in the league. When asked who he thought was the best finisher, Krunal didn’t take any time to name his brother, along with Kieron Pollard. There was a time when Krunal, Hardik and Pollard were part of Mumbai Indians.

Krunal was asked multiple quick questions by Cricbuzz. His one reply particularly caught the eye. When asked who was the best fast bowler in the league, he named Jasprit Bumrah in two shakes. However, when he was asked who the best death-over fast bowler was, he named Sri Lankan legend Lasith Malinga instead of Bumrah.

Krunal, whose team RCB went top of the league on Wednesday night with a thumping five-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants, also named Mumbai Indians' Wankhede Stadium as his favourite away venue. However, when he was with MI, it was the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.