IND vs SL | Bat Manish Pandey at No.5 in T20Is as finisher, states Harsha Bhogle
BCCI
Harsha Bhogle believed that backing Manish Pandey at number five in T20Is would be a great idea since he liked the role of a finisher and has done well. Pandey scored an unbeaten 31 off just 18 balls and along with Shardul Thakur propelled India's first innings score past 200 in the third T20I
Manish Pandey has been in and around the Indian team for a while now but he has not been able to provide the consistency in the ODI format which is so crucial for a middle-order batsman. In T20Is, however, Pandey has done well in the few chances that he has got with the Indian team as a finisher. In the third T20I against Sri Lanka, he scored 31* off 18 balls as India scored 201 in their 20 overs. Harsha Bhogle feels that Pandey should be given more backing in this role as he has proved to be consistent and effective.
"When you get to the last 12 balls and if you have a set batsman then it can make a difference of 6-8 runs and that can be the difference in the match sometimes. So, he (Pandey) also scored a couple of boundaries in the end and it was not just Shardul Thakur hitting the ball," Bhogle said in a chat show on Cricbuzz.
"The interesting fact is that they both (Pandey and Thakur) took the total from 164 to 201 and in just 14 balls. So I thought he really finished well," he added.
India were 164-6 at one stage with just 14 balls left but Pandey was still at the crease. He got together with Shardul Thakur, who himself scored 22* off 8 balls as India crossed 200 and finished strongly. Pandey had been consistent for his IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad too in IPL 2019 at number five and thus Bhogle reckoned that he really liked that role.
"Tom Moody told us this story that he likes this role and when asked what number he wanted to bat he said that he wanted to bat at number five. You would have thought somebody like a Manish Pandey would say that he likes to bat at three but he said he would bat at number five. Maybe he likes that role," Bhogle stated.
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