Manish Pandey (Cricketer)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Manish Pandey

• Manish Pandey is an Indian cricketer. He shot to fame after becoming the first Indian to score a century in the IPL, and he achieved this feat while playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the semi-finals of the 2009 IPL against Deccan Chargers.

• Pandey started playing cricket when he was in the 3rd standard.

• Like his father, he wanted to join the Indian Army.

• When he was 15 years old, he moved to Bengaluru with his family. His father, who was in the Indian army, was transferred a few years later to Rajasthan. However, Manish decided to stay back and pursue cricket in Bengaluru.

• He started his career by playing for Mysore in a state-level tournament.

• His career took off when he was selected for India’s under-19 team for the U-19 World Cup in Malaysia in 2008. India won the U-19 World Cup against South Africa.

  

• During the 2009-10 Ranji Trophy, he was the highest scorer with 882 runs, which included five 50’s and four 100’s.

• He considers Rahul Dravid as his role model. Once, in an interview, Pandey said that he was indebted and inspired by Dravid.

  

• He was the Man of the Match in the finals of the 2014 IPL (Season 7) for his score of 94 for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) against Kings XI Punjab.

  

• Pandey represents the Mysuru Warriors in the Karnataka Premier League (KPL). In 2014, he led them to win the title.

  

• On 14 July 2015, he made his one day international (ODI) debut against Zimbabwe. He scored 71 runs, and he was involved in a match-winning 144 runs partnership with Kedar Jadhav for the fifth wicket.

• On 6 September 2017, he scored his first international T20 fifty with Virat Kohli against Sri Lanka. The two of them had a 119-runs partnership for the third wicket, which was a record in T20 International.

  

• He is known for his unique half-sweep-half-flick shot. He starts this shot by going for a sweep, but then he stretches his bat towards the ball and flicks it.

  

• On 19 December 2023, Manish was picked by Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2024 IPL Auction, held at the Cola-Cola Arena in Dubai, for a fee of Rs. 50 lakh.