With eyes on IPL, Kunal Chandela is batting in SMAT 2025-26 with a sense of purpose
Beyond leading Uttarakhand into the knockouts, skipper Kunal Chandela is batting in this Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) season with a sharpened sense of purpose.
The 31-year-old revealed that Mumbai Indians (MI) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) had called him up for trials for the upcoming IPL season. At the RR trials, attended by lead assistant coach Vikram Rathour, he was told that his SMAT performance would be monitored.
And he has launched his campaign in remarkable fashion — first a career-best 88 off 49 balls against Karnataka, then surpassing it with 94 off 54 against Saurashtra.
Speaking after his team’s six-wicket win over Saurashtra on Friday, Kunal said he began working specifically on his white-ball game after the last Ranji Trophy season. “I worked a lot on my fitness and bat speed. I focused on playing pick-up shots that can easily go my way,” he said.
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His sounding board has been the former Mumbai skipper Aditya Tare — “a good friend who’s like a brother”. Tare etched his name into IPL folklore in 2015, when he launched James Faulkner for the six that carried MI past RR into the playoffs on net run rate.
“He has always supported me and talks to me about what I do right and wrong and how I can improve my batting. He’s helped a lot with my fitness and the mental side of the game. He used to tell: ‘If you play more balls out there, you will automatically score runs.’
“I spoke with him even before the last game (against Karnataka), and he asked me to take a bit of time out there in the middle and then play my shots,” he said.
The runs matter, but the impact matters more — that’s how Kunal sees it. His 88 still ended up in vain, with Karnataka snatching a last-ball win by five wickets in a 198-run chase.
“I don’t believe in milestones. I always tell this to my players: ‘We don’t believe in fifties and hundreds. The team should win.’
“The impact should be that the team should win. If the team doesn’t win, that 88 doesn’t count,” he said.
Published on Nov 29, 2025
