Royal Challengers Bangalore all-rounder Krunal Pandya has clarified his tension with former West Indies international and Lucknow Super Giants batsman Nicholas Pooran.
When their teams faced each other in Lucknow on May 7, it seemed as if both were dominating each other. Lucknow managed to break the six-match losing streak and won the match by 9 runs.
LSG beat RCB
Although the game had several rain interruptions, it was eventually reduced to just 19 overs per side. Mitchell Marsh scored his second IPL century to lead LSG.
Pooran also played his part, but it was Rishabh Pant’s cameo that gave LSG the final push to cross 200. DLS maths set a target of 213 runs in 19 overs for RCB.
RCB’s hopes seemed to be fading with the dismissal of Jacob Bettall in the first over and Virat Kohli being out for a duck in the second over. Prince Yadav – who had dismissed Kohli – came back to break the stand between Devdutt Padikkal and Rajat Patidar.
Tim David, Krunal Pandya and Romario Shepherd tried but could only put up a tough fight, handing RCB their fourth defeat in the tournament.
Krunal Pandya and Nicholas Pooran incident
This dispute happened in the tenth over of LSG’s innings. Pandya had recently dismissed Arshin Kulkarni and Pooran was promoted to No. 3 for one more match.
Pandya welcomed Pooran with bouncers – a strategy he has sometimes successfully employed to stop the southpaw. The first was dot ball. Krunal tried another bouncer, which Pooran worked towards a single.
Once Pooran was at the non-striker’s end, he and Pandya were seen talking aggressively and apparently got hit on his forehead. LSG head coach Justin Langer considered getting involved, but stayed away.
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Friendship between Pandya and Puran can be seen in the new video
Two days after the match, a new viral video has surfaced on social media. The video shows Pandya and Pooran having a friendly joke after the match.
Interestingly, Krunal Pandya and Nicholas Pooran were teammates at Lucknow Super Giants from 2023 to 2024. Pooran was retained ahead of the mega auction for IPL 2025, while Pandya joined RCB.
Is there a friendly banter going on between Nicholas Pooran and Krunal Pandya? pic.twitter.com/hyYoj2J0d7
– Deepu (@deepu_drops) 8 May 2026
Krunal Pandya gave clarification on Instagram
After the match, Krunal Pandya took to his Instagram account to clarify the allegations regarding the incident between him and Puran.
Pandya posted a photo himself with Puran and said that there was no dispute between the two. Pandya also congratulated his former teammate for achieving the feat of 100 matches in the IPL. Puran has previously played for Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
“No lafra nahi (no hassle), only love Congratulations to my brother @nicholaspooran on completing 100 IPL games. Proud of you brother, more to come Btw, how was the bouncer?” Pandya captioned the picture.
Pandya had tagged Pooran in his post, and the latter decided to oblige him in a comment. He wrote, “There’s only love here, guys. One of my best mates.”