IPL 2021: ‘Lost wickets like tailenders’ – Ashish Nehra slams Manish Pandey over poor shot selection

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) lost their second consecutive match in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. This time SRH’s defeat came against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) from a situation where the game was in complete control. Hyderabad’s top-order batsmen David Warner and Manish Pandey were set while leading their side towards a comfortable win before they played mediocre shots to throw their wickets.

Former India pacer Ashish Nehra came down heavily on Manish Pandey for yet again failing to win the match for his side. Nehra said that Pandey played a shot like a tailender as he had the option of directing that ball towards mid-off or cover instead of mid-wicket or long-on. 

“Virat Kohli deployed his only left-arm spinner at the right time. But the way SRH batters – Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey and Abdul Samad got out, it didn’t seem like proper batters were getting out. They appeared to be losing wickets like tailenders, especially Pandey,” Nehra told Cricbuzz.

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“When the players at positions 9, 10, 11 don’t have many options against moving deliveries, they target only mid-wicket and long on. And that’s a major difference. When you are in good form and know how to play under pressure, you have options to hit those away going deliveries towards mid-off or cover,” he added.

‘That’s why Pandey failed to cement his place in team Indian’: Nehra

Manish Pandey is currently not a part of the Indian cricket team across all three formats. Ashish Nehra said that Pandey’s inability to adapt in a pressure situation has leapfrogged him on the national side. He added that players like Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav who came after Manish Pandey have done better than the SRH batsman.

“And that’s why Manish Pandey failed to cement his place in the Indian team. You look when he made his debut, and then the likes of Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav came and went far ahead. Because these players are much better at adapting to the pressure and that’s why they leapfrogged Pandey,” he added.

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