Manish Pandey named in Karnataka squad for Zonal T20 League

India’s charismatic batsman Manish Pandey has been named in the Karnataka squad for the upcoming Zonal T20 league. Led by veteran seamer Vinay Kumar, the Karnataka side boasts of a star-studded lineup with the likes of Mayank Agarwal, Abhimanyu Mithun and Stuart Binny. Shreyas Gopal and Krishnappa Gowtham are the two spin bowling all-rounders in the team.

Mystery bowler KC Cariappa too has been included in the T20 side. Pandey is one of the many India ODI players who will play for their state before they off to South Africa for the ODI series. The T20 games in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy will be just the right practice for them heading overseas to battle against the Proteas.

Pandey not retained by KKR

Among all the players, all eyes will be on the 28-year-old. Speaking of Pandey, he was not named in the retention list released by Kolkata Knight Riders for IPL 2018. However, it is expected that the franchise will stick by him on the auction day by the use of Right To Match (RTM) card.

His journey thus far has been sinusoidal. When he scored an unbeaten 104 and helped India chase down 330 during their 2016 tour of Australia, it was believed that the player with immense talent had finally announced himself on the world stage.

When on song, there are very few batsmen that measure up to the skills Pandey can put on display. But that spectacle has been far and less when he dons the India jersey. The upcoming domestic tournament presents him with an opportunity to push harder in his quest to cement a fixed position in the Indian batting ranks.

Karnataka Squad:

Prasidh Krishna, Vinay Kumar (C), Karun Nair, Manish Pandey, Abhimanyu Mithun, Praveen Dubey, Shreyas Gopal, Stuart Binny, Mayank Agarwal, CM Gautam, Ravikumar Samarth, KC Cariappa, Sreenath Aravind, Krishnappa Gowtham, Pavan Deshpande.