It was a training session of the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2017 season, when Manish Pandey sustained a side strain which led him to miss two crucial games for KKR and later on, owing to this tough injury, he missed the ICC Champions Trophy too.
Pandey who last played an ODI for India against New Zealand in 2016 was named in the India squad for the ODI series against Sri Lanka after his match winning knock of 93* against South Africa ‘A’ at Pretoria recently. The stylish middle-order batsman who is now back with the Men in Blue is eager to make a mark, if the management gives him a chance.
Ask him on his injury ahead of CT17 and how happy he is now with his performance in South Africa, Pandey says, ‘Talking about the injury, I think that was a really sad part. I missed two IPL games and the Champions Trophy. Nevertheless, my physio gave me a six-week rest and I was happy to come back and play the India ‘A’ series, and to win that series was really important for me. I was pretty happy with the way I was batting there. I am just trying to keep up the form.”
Pandey has had to play the waiting game to break into the XI and he feels that ‘it is ok to wait for the right opportunity’.
“The game I played in Australia, I batted No.4, that’s where I normally bat, and that’s where I know how many overs I have to play. That’s where I have batted my entire career. Batting at No.6 or No.5 was a bit new for me during the New Zealand series, and I think it took me some time to get used to that situation with only 15-odd overs left in the game. You can’t settle in from that position, you just need to go out and go at everything from ball one. I think I have adapted to that situation well. Let’s see how it goes.”
At Team India’s first official practice session at Dambulla, a rejuvenated Pandey was seen taking up the fitness drills and giving his best at the task at hand. Asked about his fitness standards and the edge it provides him with, Pandey said, “Yeah, being fit does give me an advantage, but at the same time I should never be satisfied with this and should continue to keep working hard on my fitness.”
After beating Sri Lanka 3-0 in the Test series, the Men in Blue look forward to putting up a similar show against the hosts. Pandey too feels that is an advantage to the side despite the change in formats.
“It's a completely different format but I think what advantage we have is that we've whitewashed them in the Test series and they might be a little low in terms of confidence. But I think this is where we have to focus on, keep playing our cricket and do our basics right. If we do that we'll probably have a good one-day series too.”
