With the departure of his father as national team manager, Kranjčar became a regular for Croatia in their qualifying campaign for Euro 2008, having appeared in all 12 matches and scoring two goals. The most famous of such was his long range opener for Croatia during their final match away to England. Croatia eventually won the game 3–2, resulting in England's failure to qualify for the final tournament. He then scored in a friendly match against Scotland with a spectacular effort from just inside the penalty area in a match played that ended 1–1, the equalising goal coming from Kenny Miller. He was a part of the Croatia team in Euro 2008 tournament, being a starter in 2 group match games and quarter-final game against Turkey. In Croatia's campaign for the 2010 World Cup he scored a goal against Kazakhstan. He was included in Croatia's 23-man squad for Euro 2012 and played in two out of three group stage games, missing only the last game against Spain. He missed the 2014 FIFA World Cup due to hamstring injury and since then, he has not received a single call-up for any of the national team's future matches. His last international game was on 15 October 2013.