"Better rivalry than Ashes!"- Fans awaiting Deepak Hooda vs Krunal Pandya encounter

Krunal Pandya vs Deepak Hooda is a battle that has garnered a lot of excitement among fans as the Punjab Kings (PBKS) take on the Mumbai Indians (MI) on Friday in the IPL 2021 season.

The duo plays their domestic cricket for Baroda and was recently involved in an infamous controversy. Deepak Hooda had accused Baroda skipper Krunal Pandya of allegedly abusing him and withdrew his name from Baroda's 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy squad.

But the Baroda Cricket Association handed Deepak Hooda a 12-month ban from playing domestic cricket for showing dissent towards his selection in the squad. This certainly had quite a few sparks flying off and has made their face-off in the PBKS vs MI game even more interesting.

Fans react to watching Deepak Hooda and Krunal Pandya face-off

Both Krunal Pandya and Deepak Hooda haven't spoken about the matter ever since but will surely want to have bragging rights. Both players are all-rounders and thus each might get an opportunity to bat as well as bowl against each other.

Fans of both MI and PBKS are looking forward to seeing the duo go head-to-head. Here is what they had to say about the same:

Both MI and PBKS aren't having the greatest of tournaments so far. The defending champions have lost a couple of games already and their batting has misfired in almost all the games. Losing a cluster of wickets towards the backend due to the slow Chennai pitch has been a huge factor for them.

PBKS, on the other hand, have had an even worse start as they have lost their last three games on the trot. With KL Rahul making a number of changes to his side, there hasn't been any consistency in the playing XI either.

Both teams have a lot of thinking to do and this encounter will be crucial for them to kickstart a surge in form this season.