At long last, Pandey waits to deliver on promise
MUMBAI: Manish Pandey was full of promise and looked poised to take the leap towards delivering. At least the gap seemed narrow soon after his exploits in under19 cricket. But it took six years since that 2008 junior World Cup victory to get another India call. Still, when he first heard the news of breaking into the squad for the one-off T20 game against West Indies, Pandey froze.
“I went cold for five minutes, then realised what it means to get a call to play for India again. It is one such good news I was waiting for way too long. After my under19 days, I thought the India call would happen soon, but I had a bit of a rollercoaster ride. Though it has come a bit late, going by my own expectations, it is never too late ” the 25 year old Karnataka
From becoming the first Indian centurion in the IPL — for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Deccan Chargers in 2009 — to rattling off big scores in domestic cricket — 882 runs in 2009/10 and 729 runs in Karnataka’s triumphant 2013/14 Ranji campaign — Pandey was on the selector’s radar but performances in between led them to believe he needed more time.
CONSISTENCY THE KEY “Bridging the gap between what I was and what I want to be, it can only be achieved through consistency and hard work. At some point I realised how I can improve my game and weed out the mistakes of the past. That has helped my consistency,” Pandey said, referring to his IPL and CLT20 performances.
From being shuffled in the order KKR provided him the given me that confidence to be myself. They offered me more matches than I had played with other teams.”
The enterprising batsman has added the unconventional shots had those shots, it is just that when you are given confidence, you express yourself well, and dare to play those shots. And it was particularly more visible this time ” They came in handy when year’s IPL final win over Kings XI Punjab. Pandey’s game reflects his upbringing. “Aggression and discipline are a part of my make-up. Being an army kid, I have picked up these tenets and it reflects in my game,” he said.
Picked to play in a format where shot-making rides on high risk, Pandey said T20 can still be the springboard to playing the longer formats. “I would love to play all formats. Using one for mat to make a case for yourself in another is not a limited opportu nity. Cricket doesn’t happen over night, you play plenty of matches and your performance manifests at various levels, your growth is noticed, and that is how you ready yourself for bigger platforms.”
His India U-19 team mates Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja are already well perched in the India team. And it will be interest ing to see how Pandey makes up