Former Indian fast bowler Ashish Nehra believes Manish Pandey’s inconsistency has led to his ouster from the national team. Pandey struggled to get going against Royal Challengers Bangalore as he managed 38 runs after facing 39 balls at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Wednesday.
Pandey added 83 runs with skipper David Warner off 66 balls but the latter did the lion share of the scoring during the partnership. At 96-1, SRH were in a shoo-in position but David Warner’s dismissal triggered a collapse.
With the required run-rate rising in the final four overs, Pandey decided to charge Shahbaz Ahmed in the 17th over, just after the dismissal of Jonny Bairstow. The right-hander couldn’t make a decent connection and ballooned the ball to Harshal Patel, at short third man.
“This is the reason Manish Pandey has been in and out of the Indian team. If you see how long ago, he made his debut, and players like Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant, Suryakumar Yadav have gone way ahead of him. This is because their game is different and also, they adapt and survive in pressure situations a lot better than him. That’s why Manish Pandey has been left behind,” said Nehra in a chat with Cricbuzz.
On the other hand, former Indian batsman Ajay Jadeja feels Manish Pandey could be dropped from the final XI and the SRH think tank must include Kane Williamson, who can finish the game after getting settled.
“I think there will be a rethink now. We were talking about Williamson before. In low-scoring matches, his value is redoubled. Now they will look for solid players who can finish games after getting settled. And I have no doubt that Manish Pandey might not play in the 11 from now on. You will witness some changes in this team and that’s natural as well,” opined Jadeja.
In fact, Pandey had failed to change gears in the team’s opening clash against Kolkata Knight Riders as he had scored 61 from 44 balls and the team had lost that game by 10 runs.
SRH will next face defending champions Mumbai Indians at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on 17th April.