Manish Pandey is having the time of his life in 2019, leading Karnataka to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on Sunday, making a crucial 60 off 45 balls when the chips were down in the final. He has scored 336 runs in 10 T20s this season and has racked up 1038 runs in T20s in 2019 overall, scoring two centuries and six fifties in the process.
Across the world, 18 batsmen have scored 1000 T20 runs in 2019 and Manish Pandey has the second-best strike-rate and average among them.
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Best T20 batting averages in 2019 (Min. 1000 runs) |
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|
Player |
Matches |
Runs |
Average |
Strike-Rate |
|
David Warner |
25 |
1202 |
70.7 |
141.74 |
|
Manish Pandey |
37 |
1038 |
54.63 |
151.09 |
|
AB de Villiers |
40 |
1439 |
53.29 |
156.92 |
|
KL Rahul |
28 |
1098 |
49.9 |
140.4 |
|
D'Arcy Short |
25 |
1004 |
47.8 |
139.83 |
He is among only four Indians to get to 1000 runs in the year, along with Shreyas Iyer (1250), Suryakumar Yadav (1176) and KL Rahul (1098). Apart from Suryakumar Yadav, who is not in India’s squad, Pandey is the only other batsman to not be assured of a place in India’s T20 team. And it is with good reason too.
Read | What India’s starting XI could look like in the first West Indies T20
In four T20I innings in 2019, Manish Pandey has scored just 49 runs at a strike-rate of 122.5. It includes two unbeaten innings and two dismissals, giving him an average of 24.5, the third time in his India career that he averages below 25 after 2015 and 2016. It has also been 13 innings since he last scored a fifty for India.
His numbers against West Indies do not inspire much confidence either. In five innings, the 30-year-old has scored just 50 runs, at an average of 16.66 and strike-rate of 87.71, both of those being the lowest by an Indian with at least five innings against the Windies.
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Lowest T20 batting average for India vs WI (Min. 5 innings) |
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|
Player |
Innings |
Runs |
Average |
Strike-Rate |
|
KL Rahul |
5 |
189 |
63 |
164.34 |
|
Virat Kohli |
8 |
318 |
45.42 |
139.47 |
|
Rohit Sharma |
12 |
425 |
47.22 |
139.34 |
|
Rishabh Pant |
7 |
171 |
28.5 |
130.53 |
|
Manish Pandey |
5 |
50 |
16.66 |
87.71 |
The only real parameter that one can compare Manish Pandey to in the above list is Rishabh Pant, considering the others are top-order batsmen but the gulf in runs, average and strike-rate between the two is also telling.
While Pandey’s poor numbers are not entirely his fault- he has been shifted up and down the order multiple times, often coming in late in the innings, the fact that he has not grabbed the opportunities is hard to miss. His domestic performances and captaincy this season has got him into both the T20 and ODI squads.
However, it can only get him that far. He is rightly not guaranteed a place in the starting XI, but the only solution is to be prepared whenever he is given a go and replicate his domestic form if he harbours hopes of going to Australia for the T20 World Cup in 2020.
Read | India vs West Indies: Who makes it to the combined T20 XI?
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Punit Paranjpe
