IPL 2018: Match 36, Player Battles – Manish Pandey vs Amit Mishra

The Sunrisers Hyderabad invested a huge chunk of their purse to buy Manish Pandey, a proper Indian middle-order batsman just the kind of player the team has been missing over the years. However, the results have been out of proportion with the expectations. Pandey is the second highest run-getter for Sunrisers in the tournament thus far but his tally of 158 runs is less than half when equated to skipper Kane Williamson‘s 322 runs.

Pandey has struggled to hit the big shots throughout the tournament. The 28-year-old came into the tournament with 255 runs in his seven T20I innings for India at an average of 85 and a strike-rate of 129.44. He failed to capitalize on his rich form having scored just two fifties in seven innings thus far. He scored an unbeaten 42-ball 57 in the game against Kings XI Punjab where his team fell short of the target by 13 runs. Manish later composed a 51-ball 54 against the same opponent at home even after getting ample of chances through drop catches.

It’s high time Pandey gets some runs under his belt and strengthens his team. Sunrisers will now take on the Delhi Daredevils and Manish has a pretty good record against them. He has scored 311 runs in ten IPL innings against DD at an average of 51.83. As Pandey walks in the middle overs, he will face leggie Amit Mishra who has found back his rhythm having spent some time on the bench earlier in the season.

Manish Pandey vs Amit Mishra:

Mishra bagged four wickets in the last three matches giving away runs at an economy rate of 6.5. Manish Pandey will be the ideal player to unsettle Mishra who is well aware of the conditions in Hyderabad. The leg-spinner was a part of the Hyderabad-based franchises Deccan Chargers as well as SRH in the past. He holds the record for picking most wickets in the T20 format at this venue with 30 wickets to his name. Since the start of the 2014 season, Pandey has scored 44 runs off 28 balls against Mishra and hasn’t lost his wicket once.

(Stats as on May 4, 2018)