‘Sanju was batting well’ – Indian batter shares an interesting anecdote about Sanju Samson
Manish Pandey was one of the rising stars of Indian Cricket who rose to the limelight after becoming the first Indian batter to score a hundred in the Indian T20 League in 2009. Despite having great potential, the star batter could only represent India in 29 ODIs and 39 T20Is due to tough competition. He got the exit from India’s T20I set-up after the Australia tour in 2020. His ODI career too went southwards after the Sri Lanka tour in 2021.
The team management began giving opportunities to Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav and Shreyas Iyer. Pandey said he obviously would have preferred a longer run at a higher number but he knew the likes of Samson needed to be tried out.
“See obviously, individually I would feel a little sad about it. But I am sure, whatever calls the Indian team was taking or whoever was playing a certain number of games, I was happy for them. Sanju was batting well, so I thought he should have now gotten games and he did. So no hard feelings there. But on a personal front, I would obviously want to play a lot more games and prove myself at the highest level. But unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Maybe see how it goes from here on,” Pandey told Sportskeeda.
Pandey has not been in the best of forms while playing for Karnataka in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He received another shock when he was released by the Lucknow franchise ahead of the Indian T20 League 2023.
You actually feel a little sad about it : Manish Pandey
“I have been through that situation even with the Indian team. Because there were a lot of times where I have not played a lot of games and I have been sitting out. You actually feel a little sad about it, but it is all in the spirit of the game where the team requires something and then you have to abide by that. So I have been in these kinds of situations before and I think I should not be letting all these things affect me which will eventually affect my game. So I just want to be in the present. If I get an opportunity, I want to play and score well and see how it goes from there,” he said.
When asked If he was disappointed not being a part of India’s World Cup squad Pandey said that he hasn’t lost hope and will look to perform well in the Indian T20 League to make a comeback into the team.
“Unfortunately, we could not win the World Cup this time. But we had a solid team. And my inclusion depends on so many things. Again it’ll be the whole cycle – a lot of people who will be performing in the Indian T20 League will come up, and we will have to form teams around that. Looking at the top 20 or the top 25 that we have, we have a really solid side and we are still No. 1,” he added.
