15 men squad for Asia Cup and World T20 has been announced today. The squad was predictable with India’s clean sweep in Australia Down Under. But, the man of the match of Sydney ODI was left out of the squad.
In the final ODI at Sydney Cricket Ground, chasing Australia’ 330 run target Manish Pandey played 104 off 81 balls match winning knock. Before the Sydney ODI Indians were trailing the series by 4-0 that one victory changed the scenario of the series as India went on to win four consecutive matches including the 3-0 T20 series rout.
But the 25-year-old man Manish Pandey did not find a place in the team where the middle order looks strongly settled with Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni. Indian selectors had a toss-up between Ajinkya Rahane and Pandey. And finally, selectors decided to go for Rahane, who had a hand fracture in the third ODI and was replaced by Pandey.
Pandey has a reputation of clean hitting in the Indian Premier League. In the second edition of IPL Manish Pandey become the first Indian batsman to hit a hundred in the IPL.
Indian Selection Committee head Sandeep Patil said, “Manish Pandey is not dropped. We discussed him. He is the future of Indian team.” He was edged ahead by Ajinkya Rahne, who has been an another middle order batsman. But, a player who has praised team-mates and won India a match, will be disappointed by the outcome.
As the World T20 will be held in India, he could get a chance at least in the squad. India has decided to go with Yuvraj Singh, who scored one six and four in the last over of final T20 to win India a final match. A willy nilly Indian team, suddenly look content with a high profile top order and mighty middle order. Selectors have a very difficult job to select the squad.
Pandey is a utility batsman but in this situation, he does not suit in the T20 squad.