Born in Nainital, India, Manish Krishnanand Pandey started playing cricket from a very young age under the training of his coach Mr. Satish who was a former coach in Haryana, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. As a part of the 2008 Under- 19 World Cup, where the Indian team emerged victorious, Manish Pandey also holds the record of being the first Indian who has scored a century in the Indian Premiere League tournament. A right- handed middle order batsman, Manish Pandey played was instrumental in bringing about his team Kolkata Knight Riders success in the final match where he scored 94 runs in flat 50 balls thus chasing the huge target of 199 runs posed by the opponent team Kings XI Punjab. Mr. Pandey played with Mumbai Indians in the 2008 season of the Indian Premiere League followed by Royal Challengers Bangalore for the next two years of his IPL career. Since 2011, he was playing with Pune Warriors before being a part of Kolkata Knight Riders in 2014. Kolkata Knight Riders co- owner Shahrukh Khan has gone under record saying that he was confident that Manish Pandey will bring victory to Kolkata Knight Riders.
His father served in the Indian Army and was transferred to Bangalore when Manish was 15 years old. Manish chose to stay in Bangalore even after his father got transferred to Rajasthan three years later. He played with the Karnataka team in a number of matches including the one between Karnataka v/s Kerala in 2007, Karnataka v/s Railways in 2008, Karnataka v/s Rest of India 2014, and North Zone v/s South Zone in 2014. He was said to be the Karnataka team’s big Ranji hope and his trademark half- sweep- half- flick where he flicks the ball towards the mid- wicket after shaping in a way as if going for a sweep made him a star in the Bangalore junior circles. In the year 2008- 2009 his two half centuries in the Ranji Trophy matches made him a hero among the young cricket players.
Had he not been a cricketer, Manish Pandey would have followed his father’s footsteps and joined the Indian Army but as we can see, destiny had altogether different plans for this right- handed striker. Being aggressive on the field as a batsman Manish Pandey has displayed his strength, courage and rigid determination to help his team emerge victorious time and again. His effortless timing and zeal is reflecting the fact that soon he will be selected to play particularly for Team India in the coming innings and test matches. Once this young achiever proves himself while playing for the country at large, there will be no way to stopping him from inking his name on the pages of Indian cricket history. Till date he has played on state levels and Indian Premiere League matches and he will undoubtedly become of the finest players that Indian cricket has witnessed over the years.
