Manish Pandey, born on September 10, 1989, is a right-handed middle-order batsman for India. He also represents Karnataka in domestic cricket and the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL. Earlier, he played as an opener for the Royal Challengers Bangalore and was the first Indian player to score an IPL century back in 2009. He was initially selected by the Mumbai Indian in 2008.
He also represented the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL and won an IPL title with them where he was the Man of the match in the finals. He also represents the Mysuru Warriors in the Karnataka Premier League and led them to the title in 2014.
Manish did his schooling at Kendriya Vidyalaya ASC Centre, Bengaluru, and his college education from Jain University, Bengaluru. His hobbies are listening to music and playing adventure sports.
His favorite shot is the half sweep half flick shot which he became renowned for. His favorite cricketers are Rahul Dravid, AB De Villiers, and Morne Morkel. His favorite band is “Coldplay” and his favorite book is “Every second counts”.
Pandey was part of the victorious 2008 Under 19 World cup team. He was a key member of the Indian limited-overs squad between 2015 and 2018. While he has gone out of favor in the ODI format, he still features regularly in the T20 format for India.
Family
Manish Pandey was born in Nainital, Kumaon to G.S.Pandey and Tara Pandey. His father, G.S.Pandey was in the Indian Army and they moved to Bengaluru when Manish was 15 years old. However, when his father was transferred to Rajasthan a few years later, Manish decided to stay back in Bengaluru and pursue his cricket.
He also has a sister Anita Pandey who also played cricket and represented Karnataka. On December 2, 2019, Manish Pandey got married to Indian actress Ashrita Shetty in Mumbai.
Early age cricket and Under 19 Cricket World cup
Manish Pandey started playing cricket from the age of 8 and his first taste of competitive cricket was for Mysore in a state-level tournament. He made his debut for Karnataka in April 2007 against Kerala in the Inter-State T-20 tournament.
He was then part of the Under 19 Indian team that won the 2008 Under 19 World cup. Although Pandey did not get many opportunities batting at numbers 6 and 7, he made some important 20’s in low-scoring encounters and was a spectacular fielder saving many runs.
Pandey made his List A debut in the quarter-final of the Vijay Hazare trophy in April 2008 and made an impressive 45. He also made his first-class debut later in the year in the Ranji Trophy super league and scored a gritty 64 batting at number 7.
Pandey came into the limelight during the final match of the second IPL in 2009 when he scored a fabulous unbeaten 114 off 73 deliveries helping the Royal Challengers Bangalore beat the Deccan Chargers. In doing so, he was the first Indian cricketer to score an IPL century. Pandey has ever since been a vital part of the Karnataka domestic side.
He had his breakthrough season in the Ranji trophy of 2009-10 when he amassed 882 runs at a stunning average of 63 with four centuries. He ended up as the highest run-getter of the competition. He played one of the greatest innings in the 4th innings of the finals against Mumbai scoring 144 runs full of dogged character and fight that sadly ended in a narrow defeat. He also continued to showcase his incredible fielding and catching skills and took a catch for the ages to dismiss Abhishek Nayar in the match.
He was then selected to play for the Board President’s Eleven to play against the touring South African team in 2010 and scored a good 43. After a couple of quiet seasons since he was back roaring in domestic cricket when he became the second-highest run-getter for his side in the 2013-14 Ranji Season. In parallel, he also played a pivotal role in helping his IPL side Kolkata win the 2014 title by scoring a magnificent 94 in a run chase of 200 against Punjab.
Debut in Indian Cricket Team
After barely missing out on selection for the 2015 World cup, Manish Pandey finally was selected in the team for the tour of Zimbabwe. He made his debut in July 2015 against Zimbabwe in the third and final ODI of the series.
Batting first, India found themselves in trouble at 82-4 when Pandey joined hands with Kedhar Jadhav and in his maiden innings, with the team in trouble, Pandey made a well compiled 71 of 85 balls as he rescued India to a competitive total of 276 which proved more than enough for Zimbabwe.
He also then went on to make his T20 debut for India three days later against Zimbabwe in the 2-match series. Since then, he has been a more regular member of India’s t20 teams boasting a highly impressive average of 44.31 in the shortest format which is the 6th highest in the world.
Breakthrough Inning
Manish Pandey wasn’t part of the limited over squads for the South African series that followed his debut series against Zimbabwe in the wake of the regular members of the team being back. However, he finally got selected again to the Indian ODI squad for the tour of Australia in January 2016.
Although he did not get an opportunity in the playing eleven for the first four ODI’s which India lost, Pandey finally was part of the playing team for the fifth and final ODI at the Sydney Cricket ground.
India opted to chase after winning the toss and Australia went about in dominating fashion scoring a mammoth 330 in their 50 overs. India started their response in style with Rohit Sharma and Shikar Dhawan laying the foundation for an improbable chase. However, India lost 2 quick wickets due to the pressure of a big run chase and an escalating required rate.
Manish entered the crease with India still requiring close to 200 in 30 overs to avoid an embarrassing whitewash in the hands of Australia. Playing just his second ODI and with the pressure of having to deliver due to the healthy competition for spots in the India team, Pandey went about the chase in clinical fashion showing tremendous composure under immense pressure.
He scored a fabulous unbeaten 81 ball 104 and guided India to chase down the huge score set by Australia. The inning was marked by some classical off-side shots, gritty batting, and running while maintaining great poise that displayed a maturity beyond his age.
It left the fans and commentators in awe to watch a newcomer coming through in such a high-pressure situation against the Australians in Australia under the circumstances of a big-run chase. This inning ensured Pandey broke through among the Indian ranks and has ever since been a regular member of the Indian white-ball squad even if not always part of the playing eleven.
Future in Cricket
Manish Pandey has played 26 ODI’s and 39 T20’s for India since his debut in 2015. While he has performed very well in the T20’s and relatively well in the ODI’s, injuries and inconsistencies have plagued him from taking the next step and becoming a main cog in the Indian setup.
However, he has shown repeatedly an uncanny ability to play well under high-pressure situations in both the domestic arena and for India. In addition, he has also already established himself as arguably India’s best fielder with multiple brilliant stops and catches near the boundary.
It is expected by many that Pandey will take the next step in displaying greater consistency and nailing down a permanent spot in the Indian white-ball setup and have a big future to help India continue their domination of world cricket.
