Manish Pandey Blows Away Services, Slams 129 Off Just 54 Balls

Manish Pandey, on Tuesday, scored a whirlwind century for Karnataka against Services in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The knock will further brighten up the batsman’s chances of getting a long rope from the Indian team. He was a part of India’s T20I squad for the just-concluded series against Bangladesh and played a fine 13-ball 22 runs cameo in the series decider.

The right-handed batsman just blew away Services as he slammed an unbeaten 129 from just 54 balls. His breathtaking knock was studded with 12 fours and 10 sixes as Karnataka posted a massive total of 250 for 3 in the stipulated 20 overs.

Asked to bat first, Karnataka were off to a poor start as their opener Rohan Kadam departed for just four. But from thereon, it was just a one-way traffic as Karnataka batsmen led by their captain made light work of Services bowlers. Devdutt Padikkal and Manish Pandey batted Karnataka to a position of strength by sharing a mammoth stand of 167 runs for the second wicket.

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Vikas Yadav ended the stand when he dismissed Padikkal for 75. But unlike Padikkal, Manish Pandey remained till the very end to make sure his side post a massive total. Krishnappa Gowtham also played a fine cameo of 23 from 15 balls.

Manish Pandey, meanwhile, has been in fine form this season. Just few days ago, he led Karnataka to the Vijay Hazare Trophy title. He finished the competition as the fifth highest run-scorer but was hailed for bailing Karnataka out of trouble on number of occasions. The lowest score he was dismissed for in the entire tournament was 48.

He eventually finished the competition with 525 at an average of 105. He scored those runs at a strike-rate of 108.02 and slammed 22 sixes. He has the form on his side now and will be looking to make the most of it ahead of next year’s T20 World Cup.