WATCH: Manish Pandey outsmarts Kieron Pollard with a brilliant field set
Manish Pandey was made captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad for their final group game against Mumbai Indians, and despite not being 100% culpable for their bowlers’ horrible outing, he provided a great moment as a captain. He worked out an out-of-the-box fieldset, which was a trap set to dismiss Kieron Pollard.
With Mumbai losing the well-set Ishan Kishan, the scoring rate had come down and they needed some big runs immediately. Manish Pandey handed the ball to Abhishek Sharma in this situation and despite being under severe pressure, the youngster produced a magnificent over, where he picked up 2 wickets and gave away just 5 runs.
Having bowled 4 good deliveries, Abhishek Sharma was pumped up and Pandey provided him a fielder right in front of the sight-screen down the ground. Pollard has a history of hitting the ball towards that region and much to the surprise of everyone, the Caribbean cricketer went for that very shot. He smashed it hard, but hit it straight to Jason Roy, who juggled once but eventually completed the catch.
It was a moment of brilliance from Pandey to have worked that field, and Abhishek Sharma rewarded his captain with an important wicket. Although Mumbai Indians had registered 236 runs with the bat, they failed to qualify for the playoffs.
Here’s the video of that dismissal
— No caption needed (@jabjabavas) October 8, 2021
Final season with SRH for Manish Pandey?
Manish Pandey was bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for a whopping INR 11 Crore in their last mega auction, but he failed to deliver big performances for the side. He played just 8 out of the 14 games this season, and scored 287 runs. Although the run tally wasn’t disappointing, most of his good performances failed to help the side get over the winning line.
He was made captain in the final group game today with Kane Williamson nursing an injury, but it remains unlikely that the Orange Army will retain him. Kane Williamson and Rashid Khan currently remain the favorites to get retained, especially after David Warner‘s farewell message for the fans earlier tooday.