Sri Lanka vs India 2021: Suryakumar Yadav Backs India's Decision To Persist With Manish Pandey

Indian Middle Order Batsman Suryakumar Yadav defended the team management’s decision to give Manish Pandey another opportunity with the bat despite his poor form. All is not well for Manish Pandey who was looking to make a strong statement in this series but could manage just 74 runs at an average of 24,67.

He was unlucky in the second ODI when he was looking well set for a big one until he was run out in the unluckiest ways possible. The 31-year old has been in and out of the Indian side for a long time now and he will now have to wait for his opportunity in the three T20 international series to keep his hopes of making it to the T20 Worldcup squad alive.

“He’s Been Batting Really Well” –  Suryakumar Yadav

Suryakumar Yadav in the post-match interview was questioned about the selection of Manish Pandey and he responded to it by stating that it has nothing to do with him and it was totally the decision of the team management. However, he did defend the decision to an extent, notifying that Manish Pandey has been batting really well in the practice games and the intra- squad games.

“That was completely the team management’s call, I can’t get into that decision. But yes, he’s been batting really well as we saw in the practice games, we played intra-squad games also.” Suryakumar Yadav said in the post-match press conference

Suryakumar Yadav Points Out the Unfortunate Dismissal Of Manish Pandey

Manish Pandey was dismissed by the most unfortunate run-out incident when he was batting on 37 and it has been the story for him this summer. Suryakumar Yadav mentioned that the run-out incident might have prompted the Indian management to give another go for Pandey in the third ODI against Sri Lanka. However, Manish Pandey couldn’t grab his chances in the third ODI and was dismissed for 11 runs.

And last game, you all must have seen it it was an unfortunate dismissal, he was batting really well at that time as well. So that must have been the reason but as I said, this isn’t my call,” . Suryakumar Yadav added

Manish Pandey’s numbers in T20 internationals for India overall have been good and that might just work in his favor for the T20 series.