IPL 2020: Manish Pandey – IPL’s first Indian century scorer comes of age, eyes consistency

XtraTime Web Desk: When people talk about India cricketer Manish Pandey, invariably his maiden century in IPL 2009 for Royal Challengers Bangalore strikes first to mind. Manish blazed his way to an unbeaten 114 off 73 balls against Deccan Chargers to guide RCB into the knockout stages in South Africa. The talented youngster from Karnataka was immediately looked upon as a potential limited overs option for India. But that was never to be as he had to wait till 2015 until he got picked for Team India for the tour of Zimbabwe. He grabbed the opportunity with his both hands as he scored a brilliant 71 runs in his maiden ODI innings. A year later, Manish scored a breathtaking 104* against Australia at Sydney Cricket Ground in the CB series in 2016. And that knock made the world sit up and take notice of him. Manish Pandey’s biggest drawback in his career so far has been his inconsistency. And that has been evident in his performances in the Indian Premier League as well.

The flamboyant batsman has played for more than one franchise in his IPL career. Since being picked by Mumbai Indians for the inaugural edition of IPL, Pandey plied his trade with different franchises including Royal Challengers Bangalore (2009-10), Pune Warriors (2011-13), Kolkata Knight Riders (2014-15) and Rising Pune Supergiants (2016-17). He was acquired by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for a sum of INR 11 crore which made him their most expensive buy in the 2018 IPL player auction. Despite a mediocre season the SRH management instilled faith in him by retaining him for the 2019 edition too. So far in his IPL career, Manish has scored 2843 runs from 130 games at an average of 120.82 and a strike rate 120.82.

Manish played quite a few match winning knocks in IPL over the years but the one that ranks as his best was his effort in the final of the 2014 edition at the Chinnaswamy Stadium against Kings XI Punjab.

He scored 94 in the final to trump Wriddhiman Saha’s hundred, beating KXIP and helping KKR coast to their maiden IPL title. Once again, Pandey struggled for consistency, and was released by the Knight Riders in 2018, and signed by the Sunrisers. He had a torrid season with the bat in 2018, but the franchise has shown trust in him going into the 2019 season. He will certainly make the starting XI, but it is time Pandey repays the trust of the franchise with some big runs…