Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) suffered another dramatic collapse in the middle-order on Wednesday that saw them incur a bitter defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). While a number of their batters played irresponsible shots in the final phase of the run-chase, Manish Pandey has couped the most criticism.
Former India cricketers like Ashish Nehra and Parthiv Patel slammed the right-handed batsman for ‘tailender-like’ shot that led to his dismissal and triggered a dramatic collapse in the SRH batting unit that saw them end the innings runs shy of RCB’s total.
Pandey had been in the scheme of things for the Indian team but the past few series saw his stocks falling. Nehra, highlighting the shot-selection that led to Pandey’s dismissal against RCB, said that such decisions are responsible for him losing out on a place in the Indian team when compared to Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan.
“Virat Kohli deployed his only left-arm spinner at the right time. But the way SRH batters – Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey and Abdul Samad got out, it didn’t seem like proper batters are getting out. They appeared to be losing wickets like tailenders, especially Pandey,” Nehra told Cricbuzz.
“When the players at positions 9, 10, 11 don’t have many options against moving deliveries, they target only mid-wicket and long on. And that’s the major difference. When you are in a good form and know how to play under pressure, you have options to hit those away going deliveries towards mid-off or cover,” he added.
With this being a T20 World Cup year, it is hugely important for Manish Pandey to showcase his form and abilities in the IPL. As things stand at the moment, however, Nehra doesn’t feel Pandey has what it takes to usurp the likes of Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav.
“And that’s why Manish Pandey failed to cement his place in the Indian team. You look when he made his debut, and then the likes of Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav came and went far ahead. Because these players are much better at adapting to the pressure and that’s why they leapfrogged Pandey,” he explained.
Parthiv Patel also echoed Nehra’s sentiments. “Some real poor shot selection there. It was shocking to play shots like that,” he said on Star Sports.
