IPL 2018: Tom Moody Defends Underperforming Manish Pandey

Sunrisers Hyderabad are flying high this season. With 6 wins in eight games, the Hyderabad-based outfit is sitting at the top of the points table and have one foot in the doors to the playoffs. But despite the impressive showing this season, one can safely say that the team-management would not be spending peaceful nights. The reason behind the same is the lukewarm performance from the middle-order.

The middle-order has always been an area of concern for the franchise which has traditionally boasted of a good top-order. Not surprisingly, they went all out for Manish Pandey in this year’s auction. The franchise spent a whopping Rs 11 crore to secure the services of the proven match-winner. However, eight games into this season and Pandey is yet to justify his huge price tag.

The right-handed batsman has failed to cross the 16-run mark in 5 of the seven innings he has played so far. With the tournament entering its business phase, Pandey’s modest returns would give the team-management a lot to worry about.

However, head coach Tom Moody is not sounding like a worried man. The former Australian international defended Pandey while interacting with the media ahead of Saturday’s clash against Delhi Daredevils.

“Firstly, he has got two half centuries and it is probably a lot more than what other people in the middle-order have got in the tournament. Secondly, we have got to recognise the surfaces that we have been playing on,” Moody said.

He cited the bowling-friendly pitch behind Pandey’s poor showing this season.

“We haven’t been playing on surfaces like the ones that we saw last night in Kolkata or the one in Delhi where it’s been an absolute run feast where batsmen can stand and deliver and where you can hit sixes for fun,” he said.

“Our wickets that we have had from Mumbai through to our home games here through to Jaipur, all wickets were based around 130-150. So it’s tough work for a batsman coming in the middle order. A lot of people don’t take that into consideration. It’s all well and good in saying such and such batsmen is batting really well, but look at what he’s batting on,” the 52-year-old explained.