Manish Pandey is currently in a dream form in domestic cricket. After the remarkable consistency in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019/20, Manish Pandey now slammed a century in the domestic T20 tournament – Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2019/20. This time he scored 129 not out of 54 balls – the second-highest individual score in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy history. Also, his knock helped Karnataka to manage their highest total in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy history.
On Tuesday (12th November), Manish Pandey was leading Karnataka in the Group A match against Services at Vizianagaram. Services sent them to bat first after winning the toss.
After Karnataka opener Rohan Kadam (4) lost his wicket in the first over, two in-form batsmen Devdutt Padikkal and Manish Pandey put a giant game-controlling partnership for the second wicket. They set the 167 runs partnership before Padikkal lost his wicket on 75 runs off 43 balls (8 fours and 4 sixes).
However, Manish Pandey carried his gigantic batting till the end of that innings. Captain Manish Pandey smashed a brilliant century and guided the team’s total to 250 runs. Pandey finally remained not out on 129 runs off 54 balls which helped Karnataka to managed 250/3 in 20 overs. In that giant knock, Pandey hit 12 fours and 10 sixes and finished with the strike-rate of 238.88.
It was the second-highest individual score in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy history. The record-holder is Mumbai batsman Shreyas Iyer who scored 147 runs (55 balls) against Sikkim at Indore on 21st February 2019.
Also, the 250/3 was the third-highest total in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy history.
Shreyas Gopal took five wickets in that match
After setting up the 251 runs target, Karnataka restricted Services to 170/7 in 20 overs. This time the Karnataka leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal took five wickets. He managed the bowling figures of 4-0-19-5. In the 16th over of that innings, Gopal picked up three wickets in four balls.
Manish Pandey had the 105 batting average in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019/20
Manish Pandey is currently in a great form as he was one of the most successful batsmen in the domestic List A tournament – Vijay Hazare Trophy 2019/20. The right-handed batsman finished as the sixth most run-scorer in that tournament as he scored 525 runs in nine innings with an average of 105.00. He hit one century and five half-centuries in that tournament. While Karnataka won that tournament, Manish Pandey played a very important role for his team.