Manish Pandey: 3 best ever IPL knocks of the Karnataka captain

Karnataka captain Manish Pandey led his state to yet another Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title as they beat Tamil Nadu by a mere 1 run in the final on Sunday. Pandey has always been in contention to play for India despite the national side having a packed middle-order in all three formats of the game. When he is not on international duty, he ensures that he powers Karnataka to glory in domestic cricket.

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The right-hander has played for Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Pune Warriors India, Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL. He has churned out consistent performances over the years for his franchises. Let's have a look at top 3 IPL knocks of Manish Pandey over the years.

Manish Pandey and his best-ever IPL performances

1. 114* (RCB) vs Deccan Chargers, IPL 2009

RCB captain Anil Kumble opted to bat first and Jacques Kallis and Manish Pandey opened the batting. When he was batting on just 2, Pandey attempted an ambitious upper-cut off Ryan Harris. RP Singh, stationed at third man, was right in line for the catch but made a complete mess of it, which went on to cost the Chargers badly. Pandey reached his fifty with back-to-back sixes over the cow-corner region. In the 18th over of the innings, the Karnataka batsman gently tapped the ball to wide of long-on for a couple to raise his century. Pandey remained unbeaten on 114 as RCB eventually won the game by 12 runs. He became the first-ever Indian centurion in IPL cricket.

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2. 94* (KKR) vs Kings XI Punjab, IPL 2014 Final

KXIP put up a gigantic total of 199, riding on the back of a career-best 115 by Wriddhiman Saha. KKR were 6/1 in the first over when Pandey arrived at the crease to shift the momentum of the match. Taking charge, Pandey started scoring runs at a swift pace. With healthy support from skipper Gautam Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan, Pandey went on a rampage, hitting 7 fours and 6 sixes en route to a 50-ball-94. Just when it seemed Pandey would finally reach a century, he was dismissed in the 17th over at a score of 176. However, his innings was enough to take KKR to a memorable IPL title victory.

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3. 83 (SRH) vs Chennai Super Kings, IPL 2019

Manish Pandey, prior to the match against Chennai Super Kings, was in poor form, scoring merely 54 runs in the 6 games he had played for the Sunrisers Hyderabad. However, he returned to the side at his No.3 position which was previously occupied by Kane Williamson, who missed the game due to personal reasons. Pandey put up a brilliant performance, scoring 83 not out off 49 balls at a strike rate of 169.38, even though it wasn't enough to take SRH over the line, as CSK won the tie with a ball remaining.

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