Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 55 runs on Friday night in IPL 2026, but the match may be remembered as much for a viral reaction in the VIP box as for the result. Krunal Pandya was at the center of the moment, after a sharp bouncer to Nitish Kumar Reddy during the 17th over of the first innings sent social media into overdrive.
Reddy was on strike when Pandya fired in the short ball, and the umpire called it a wide as it sailed over the batter’s head. When cameras cut to the VIP box, Kavya Maran looked completely shocked, and the clip quickly spread online. One post summed up the mood with the line, “That “yeh kya daal raha hai bhai?” expression was too funny.”
The reaction came on May 22 and rolled straight into the match on May 23, 2026, when Hyderabad and Bengaluru met under the lights. It was not just a comic aside. The over sat inside a game that carried real playoff weight, with Royal Challengers Bengaluru chasing a target of 256 and the result helping lock in the top three places in the IPL play-offs for RCB, Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Pandya still had a major say in the contest. He later took the wicket of Heinrich Klaasen and finished his two overs with 1 wicket for 24 runs, before returning with the bat to score 41 not out off 31 balls in the chase. Rajat Patidar also made a half-century for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, but it was not enough to pull the match back after Hyderabad had built a position that left little room for mistakes.
Pandya has been used this season as a bowler who mixes up his pace and tries different things, and that variety showed again in the bouncer that caught attention first and the wicket of Klaasen that followed. His spell had the kind of unpredictability that can unsettle a batter even when the delivery itself does not go where the bowler intended.
The friction in the story is obvious. A ball that turned into a wide and sparked laughter online also belonged to a night where the same player delivered a wicket, made useful runs and ended up on the winning side of a result that mattered deeply to the playoff picture. For Bengaluru, the defeat still served a purpose: the article says the win helped RCB protect their net run rate, even in a game where Sunrisers Hyderabad finished with the stronger scoreline.
That is why the clip traveled so fast. It was funny, but it sat inside a match with real consequences, and Pandya was both the punchline and one of the decisive figures on the field.
