Lucknow Super Giants batsman Manish Pandey continued his poor form in the IPL 2022 as, after managing scores of 6 and 5 in the first two matches, the senior Karnatak batter scored 11 in his third game of the season, against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday at the DY Patil Stadium.
These numbers are in contrast to what was expected of Pandey, given he was in superb form during the Ranji Trophy – 325 runs in 3 games at an average of 162 – that just preceded the IPL 2022.
In the first match, against Gujarat Titans, Pandey could have been forgotten to have been bowled by Mohammed Shami who was in the middle of a searing new-ball spell. However, in the second game, against Chennai Super Kings, Pandey, after scoring 5 runs off 6 balls, got out trying to hit out the young and inexperienced Tushar Deshpande.
Against SRH, Pandey actually looked in good touch and mindset as he climbed into Romario Shepherd, clattering the pacer for a four and a six. However, yet again, he mistimed one short ball and gave a dolly to mid-on, the West Indian pacer having the last laugh over the experienced Indian batter.
Pandey was with SRH last season, when despite scoring at an average of 48, he was dropped from the eleven twice because his strike rate of around 120 and at times even lower, hurt the team. He was then released by SRH, and LSG bought him for 4.6 crore at the IPL 2022 February mega-auction.
Pandey will get the backing of LSG management, especially by his former KKR captain Gautam Gambhir; he’s unlikely to be dropped given that others around him in the eleven are batting well and there isn’t any Indian batter with as much experience and success as Pandey. However, if his numbers don’t get better in a coming couple of matches, LSG might have to think about Pandey’s position in the side.
Anyway, with another failure for Manish Pandey, social media was abuzz with memes and stats, trolling the 32-year-old.
Here are some of the best reactions:
Teams may change
But Manish Pandey and Vijay shankar never fails to disappoint #IPL2022
— READY TO RISE ???? (@Sunrisers_Hyd) March 28, 2022
Manish Pandey has no more space for disappointment left. Only upwards from here. #IPL
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) April 4, 2022
My Idol’s valuable tips to Manish Pandey
pic.twitter.com/mvofv81hd1
— Tha7a Fan (@Tha7aKirkut) April 4, 2022
#SRHvsLSG #SRH
Srh management to Manish Pandey :- pic.twitter.com/HYDt43XthL— Funk Bro Telugu (@funk__bro) April 4, 2022
Manish Pandey looking for his score in this IPL ??#SRHvsLSG #LSGVSSRH #IPL2022 pic.twitter.com/oLp3eJng9m
— Sachin Singh (@Sachin_anshu06) April 4, 2022
Namma manish pandey ji in the crease! pic.twitter.com/QUvVw7o1Z7
— R R (@RacchaRidhvik) April 4, 2022
Time for Manish Pandey to walk out now instead of Lewis. Lewis must be protected against the early movement, plus Manish might just give some value in the PP. In the middle overs, he may not give much value.
— Gurkirat Singh Gill (@gurkiratsgill) April 4, 2022
That over sums up Manish Pandey’s career.
— Global Spot League Official (@GlobalLeagues) April 4, 2022
He will be disappointed with this shot, @im_manishpandey and so will be @GautamGambhir ! Pandey had the chance to make it big in this game but falls cheaply!
— Sandeep Kumar Boddapati (@sandeepskb128) April 4, 2022
Ayush Badoni should be batting No.3 – chuck Manish Pandey from the side.#IPL2022 #SRHvLSG
— Rohit Sankar (@imRohit_SN) April 4, 2022
There is only one player who doesn’t fit into LSG’s batting unit right now, and that’s Manish Pandey.
Badoni has the ability to bat higher up. He has shown that in these games and Hooda also needs to play in a spin-hitting role. No.5 isn’t the position for that.
— Prasenjit Dey (@CricPrasen) April 4, 2022
