Krunal Pandya breaks interesting IPL record of Sachin Tendulkar

Krunal Pandya scored 49 runs in 49 balls with one four and six.

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) stand-in captain Krunal Pandya led from the front in their crucial IPL 2023 match against the Mumbai Indians (MI) which is being played at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow, on May 16, 2023.

LSG was asked to bat first by MI captain Rohit Sharma who the toss. Deepak Hooda who opened the innings, was out for 5, while Player of the Match in the last game, Prerak Mankad copped a golden duck this match.

But captain Krunal Pandya made 49 runs in 49 balls with one four and six. But the innings was all Marcus Stoinis who slammed 89* in 47 balls with 8 sixes and 4 fours as LSG posted 177/3 in 20 overs.

Krunal Pandya retires hurt on 49, the highest score in IPL when a batter retired hurt

However, Krunal walked off the field in the 16th over of their innings after having stitched an 82-run partnership with Marcus Stoinis. Krunal Pandya was hit on his leg when he tried to complete a quick single in the final delivery of the 16th over.

While he did not look in considerable pain, Krunal started walking back to the dressing room. He was shown on camera limping a bit but was seen climbing the stairs to the dressing room while giving some instructions to the dugout.   

The LSG captain and Stoinis put the pressure back on Mumbai Indians on a slow pitch after Jason Behrendorff and Piyush Chawla picked up 3 early wickets between them. Krunal hit 1 boundary and a six, but he raced hard between wickets.

However, in doing so, Krunal broke the record for the highest score by a batter who retired hurt in IPL history. He went past Sachin Tendulkar, who had to retire hurt for 36 against SRH in IPL 2023.

Here are the top five highest scores by a batter who retired hurt in the IPL:

1. 49- Krunal Pandya, LSG v MI, 2023

2. 36- Sachin Tendulkar, MI v SRH, 2013

3. 17- Rahul Tripathi, SRH v GT, 2022

4. 16- Sachin Tendulkar, MI v CSK, 2012

5. 15- Nitish Rana, KKR v RCB, 2018