Manish Pandey’s ‘unbeaten’ Quadrangular Series might bring him back into reckoning

He looked to have got lost among the crowd of batsmen lined up for a space in India’s jammed middle order but Manish Pandey might now pip a few in his quest to return to the national side. The 28-year-old is having a decent Quadrangular Series for India ‘B’ and his streak of unbeaten innings could propel his comeback to international cricket.

Pandey hit an unbeaten 117 against Australia ‘A’ in Alur on Monday and though his team lost the game by 5 wickets, the local hero knew that he made a statement. He acknowledged the spectators’ applause with both hands after scoring his seventh List A ton and with the final yet to be played, Pandey has every chance to grab the man of the series award and bring to him the focus of the national selectors in the run-up to Asia Cup next month and then the big one – World Cup.

He remained not out on 95 against South Africa ‘A’ and on 21 against India ‘A’ in his previous two games in the series and has a total of 233 runs to his name without being dismissed once. He could have belted more runs had the first two games were not washed out. With a number of his potential rivals for berths in India’s middle-order facing issues – either related to form or fitness – Pandey’s good run with the bat could do his chances of a comeback a world of good.

“Personally, I just think about batting. I’m looking at the middle order at the moment, trying to seal that position. This series was a proving ground to get some runs and get looked at for the Asia Cup. I want to enjoy myself, there is competition, but I want to focus on what I do best,” Pandey was quoted by ESPNcricinfo as saying.

Pandey last played for India in the two T20Is against Ireland in June prior to the England series though he did not do anything noteworthy. He didn’t get to play in the T20I series against England and did not even feature in the squad for the 50-over series. He last played a ODI for India in December 2017, against Sri Lanka.

Pandey took a short break and it helped

The right-hand batsman, who is known for his stroke-making game, was not happy with things then and took a three-week break after the tour of Ireland and England. “I wasn’t feeling good, so I took a three-week break after the UK tour. I wanted to switch off, took time off the game, and then used the time to focus on a couple of niggles and get myself mentally fresh. That seems to have helped,” he said.

Pandey has played 22 ODIs and 25 T20Is and has scored near about 1,000 runs with one hundred which he had slammed against Australia in Sydney in a winning cause.

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