Sanju Samson Was Batting Well, I Thought He Should've Played In My Place- Manish Pandey

Discarded India batter Manish Pandey has said that Sanju Samson was in better batting form, and it was justified that he played in his place after the Indian team management moved on from the Karnataka batter after 2021.

Pandey had been part of the Indian white-ball squads from 2016-2021 and managed to play 29 ODIs and 39 T20Is. When he did, he rarely got to bat at No.3, his preferred spot. However, his inconsistency in scoring runs and poor strike rate led to the Indian team management looking for his alternatives and he lost his place in the squad.

He last played a T20I on an Australia tour in 2020 and his last ODI came on the Sri Lanka tour in 2021. His way of taking time, getting his eyes in, and then going after the bowling was not something that was going to work at the number he was given to bat in the Indian side.

With the arrival of Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, and the resurgence of Sanju Samson, Pandey was left behind in the race. 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.

The talented batter made 566 runs in 29 ODIs with one century and 2 fifties and in 39 T20Is, he made 709 runs with 3 half-centuries at a strike rate of 126.15.

You Actually Feel A Little Sad About It: Manish Pandey On Being Released By Lucknow Super Giants Ahead Of IPL 2023

A veteran of domestic cricket, Pandey, who spent his best years at Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad was picked by one of the two new franchises Lucknow Super Giants for INR 4.6 crore in IPL 2022 mega auction, however, his numbers remained low for the KL Rahul-led side.

As a result, LSG released him ahead of the IPL 2023 mini-auction along with 6 other players. Talking about the same, Manish revealed that he has made peace with such incidents.

He said: “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.”

Pandey scored just 88 runs in six matches striking at 110 in IPL 2022 and has not been approached by any other franchise.

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