Jan. 26: He has always been hailed as a bundle of talent and Manish Pandey, turning up for South Zone in the Duleep Trophy semifinal against Central Zone here, did justice to that tag with a breathtaking double-century that would have silenced those who questioned his temperament to play a long innings.
He arrived at the crease with his team’s score reading 56 for 2 and appeared to be in a Ferrari, driving towards the chequered flag in full-speed. “I wanted to play the ball on merit and the wicket was an easy one to bat on. With Robin (Uthappa) and Badrinath (Subramaniam) back in the crease, I decided to play cautiously, yet, go for my shots if it was in the slot,” Manish said.
Asked if there was a method to the mayhem he created in the company of Abhinav Mukund, Manish said, “We wanted to stay at the wicket and play our natural game. We had decided that if the ball was there to be hit, we would go for it.”
On the double-century, Manish said, “It was a very satisfying knock but we still have a long way to go.” The 21-year-old admitted that it was a mistake to have gone for one shot too many when at 127, he was dropped by Pankaj Singh. “I became greedy. Thankfully, I was given a reprieve and did not want to miss out on that. When I crossed the 150-run mark, I thought I could take a shot at the double-hundred and it paid off,” Manish said.