Manish Pandey, Sunrisers Hyderabad batsman on Sunday played a fighting knock of 61 runs off 41 balls against Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai. However, his knock went in vain for David Warner-led SRH. In pursuit of a 188-run target, SRH was restricted to 177 for 5 as KKR won the game by 10 runs.
Manish Pandey, who came to bat at No 3, struck well till he was accompanied by Jonny Bairstow (55) in match 3 of IPL 2021. Once the Englishman was dismissed, he seemed to be struggling, and of course, he lacked support from the other end.
The asking rate went up in the death overs but Manish Pandey couldn’t manage to hit a boundary in the last six overs, except for the six he smashed off the last ball.
Manish Pandey May Have Taken The Initiative To Smash A Few Boundaries In The Death Overs Which Affected The Outcome Of The Match: Virender Sehwag
Speaking about his innings, former Indian opener swashbuckling Virender Sehwag opined that Manish Pandey got well settled but couldn’t find the right ball to hit in the death overs. In a conversation with Cricbuzz, Virender Sehwag made his remarks while answering a fan’s question over Manish Pandey’s inability to hit boundaries in death overs despite settling in as he couldn’t capitalize on a positive start.
“Pandey couldn’t hit a boundary in the last three overs he batted against KKR. That lone six came off the last ball when the match was over. He had an important role play. He already had faced the pressure and was set. Had he taken the initiative to smash a few boundaries, SRH wouldn’t have lost the game by 10 runs,” Virender Sehwag told Cricbuzz.
“It happens sometimes that you are a set batsman but you don’t get the balls to hit. I think the same thing had happened with Manish Pandey. He didn’t get any ball in his radar and hence, he couldn’t hit a six,” he added.
Virender Sehwag also seemingly tweeted about teams having stat-padding batsmen, saying that such teams will struggle in IPL.
Teams that will have stat padding batsmen end up batting long overs without changing gears quickly will struggle. Depriving hitters and finishers by leaving very less balls and making it very difficult. Happened last year, and such teams will struggle always #IPL
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) April 11, 2021
Virender Sehwag was not mincing any words when he used the term “stat-padding” post SRH’s loss to lament on Manish Pandey’s innings. Stat Padding, in this case, is referred to batters who accumulate runs, bolstering their average, at the cost of strike rate – which in T20 cricket often hurts their own team.
Manish Pandey Found It Difficult To Score For KKR Skipper’s Brilliant Field Placements: Ashish Nehra
Former Indian pacer Ashish Nehra heaped praise on KKR skipper Eoin Morgan for making tactical changes in the field positions to restrict Manish Pandey from scoring.
“Pandey’s radar is mostly towards mid-wicket and long-on. Until the mid-wicket fielder was up (inside the circle), he got runs. Once the fielder went deep, Pandey found it difficult to score.
“For this, I would like to appreciate KKR captain Eoin Morgan. He may have made the change in the field a bit late but the move worked in restricting Manish Pandey,” said Ashish Nehra.
Nitish Rana scored a belligerent 80 off just 56 deliveries to help the Kolkata Knight Riders set an imposing 188-run target for the Sunrisers Hyderabad to chase in their IPL 2021 encounter on Sunday.
The Eoin Morgan-led side eventually walked home as the winners by a margin of 10 runs despite Manish Pandey’s fighting unbeaten 61, Jonny Bairstow’s 55, and Abdul Samad’s late blitz. Abdul Samad cracked 19 runs off just 8 balls but was left with too much to do in the end.
Dinesh Karthik was unbeaten on 22 off 9 balls while the likes of Andre Russell (5), Shakib Al Hasan (3), and Eoin Morgan (2) were dismissed while trying to hit big shots. Prasidh Krishna then picked the wickets of David Warner and Mohammad Nabi at a crucial stage.
Pat Cummins and Shakib Al Hasan picked 1 wicket apiece and both conceded less than 35 runs. Manish Pandey’s unbeaten 61 and Jonny Bairstow’s 55 kept SRH in the hunt. SRH batsman Abdul Samad hit 2 sixes in the penultimate over but bowler Andre Russell kept his nerve in the final over as KKR won by 10 runs.