Manish Pandey had a point to prove coming into the ongoing T20 series against South Africa. The right-hander warmed the bench for the entirety of the six-match ODI series earlier, despite many arguing that he should've gotten a look.
On Wednesday, however, Pandey showed the Indian team management precisely what he's capable of with a fine knock in the second T20 to guide his team to a total of 188 for 4.
Walking in to bat at the fall of India's third wicket, Pandey dug in deep to play a brilliant knock. The hosts got off to a horrid start at the Supersport Park in Centurion. Put in to bat after South African captain JP Duminy won the toss, India lost Rohit Sharma for a first ball duck.
Soon enough, Shikhar Dhawan and skipper Virat Kohli walked back to the pavilion too as rookie pacer Junior Dala bowled an impressive opening spell. With India reduced to 45 for 3 after 5.3 overs, Pandey decided to put forth a courageous counter-attack.
The 28-year-old got together with Suresh Raina to hit a flurry of fours and sixes. None of his strokes were slogs, all conventional and classy hits to the fence.
Even after Raina's dismissal in the eleventh over, with the scoreboard reading 90, Pandey joined hands with Mahendra Singh Dhoni and kept pushing his team's total towards respectability. He brought up his half-century off 33 balls, with four boundaries and two huge sixes.
In the final overs, Dhoni joined the act and showcased some trademark big-hitting. He smacked 18 runs off the last over of the innings, bowled by Dane Paterson, to send the crowd into a tizzy. MSD and Pandey put on an unbeaten stand of 98 to put their team in a winning position. While Pandey ended up with 79 off 58, Dhoni remained not out for 52 off 28.
Pandey's knock on Wednesday shows he deserved to get a chance in the preceding ODI series as well. Coach Ravi Shastri, skipper Kohli and the Indian think tank ought to keep a firm eye on this special talent.
India made one change to their side with Jasprit Bumrah being rested due to some abdominal stiffness. Shardul Thakur made his debut in the shortest format. South African team for the match remained unchanged.
Playing XIs
India: Virat Kohli (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.
South Africa: JJ Smuts, Reeza Hendricks, JP Duminy (captain), David Miller, Farhan Behardien, Heinrich Klaasen, Andile Phehlukwayo, Chris Morris, Dane Paterson, Junior Dala, Tabraiz Shamsi.
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