Manish Pandey came to the limelight at the very young age of 19 years, when he became the first Indian player to score a century at the biggest stage possible for any Indian youngster, the IPL. Born in Nainital, Uttaranchal, Pandey moved to Bengaluru at a very young age and has grown tremendously through age-group cricket across the domestic circuit for Karnataka. Pandey started his career as a middle-order batter but has come up the ranks with his incredible strokeplay.
After his amazing stint for Bangalore in the IPL during the 2009 season, Pandey continued to grind hard in the domestic circuit and played some valuable knocks for Karnataka, which inevitably helped him grow as a player. One of his most important knocks came during the finals of the IPL 2014 when he was picked by Kolkata ahead for that season and well, it paid dividends at the end of it, quite literally, when his knock of 94 runs against Punjab, helped Kolkata to seal the title. These performances earned him a call up to the Indian side, where he continued to display his elegance with the bat. Manish's brilliant 100 against Australia at the SCG, still lives rent-free in the mind of the fans. Pandey comes across as a floater, he is a batter who can bat as per the team requirements. This flexibility is certainly a plus point in his gameplay, alongside his excess determination in the field.
Manish continues to shine for Karnataka in the domestic circuit, across all formats, whereas he remains one of the most experienced campaigners to be around in the IPL. His homecoming to KKR in 2024 puts him on road to creating brilliant performances in a familiar environment alongside Gautam Gambhir who played a crucial role in getting the best out of Manish. Another exciting chapter of his journey begins with KKR in IPL 2024.
