The Indian middle-order batsman, Manish Pandey credited the team’s attitude of not giving up as they completed the second successive match against New Zealand on Friday. He also said that the men in blue will be going for a 5-0 series whitewash in the final game. A nervous New Zealand threw it away yet again as the Indian team took a 4-0 lead in the T20I series on Friday. The two sides meet for the final match at Mt. Maunganui on Sunday.
Talking about the win during the post-match press conference, Manish said, “It has been our motto, not only for these two matches, that till the time the last ball is bowled, we won’t give up any match. If you play with that intent you will get matches like these where you might get a Super Over, and you win from there. And now we have an opportunity to make it 5-0 and it will be really amazing to do that. We will look to go 5-0 up, that is our plan. Nobody has done it before and especially India has not done it before.”
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Asked if the players believed they could pull off another win in a Super Over on Friday, Pandey said they had to bowl good balls and as the game reached the last two balls, they had started expecting the Super Over.
India’s fielding once again failed to impress one and all in Wellington and Pandey said preparation was vital in such scenarios as it helps get the basics right. Throughout the home season, he has been batting lower down the order, particularly at numbers five and now he seems to have settled for the finisher’s role.
Talking about his role, Manish said, “I have to be good with it. I have to start preparing my mind as a no. 6 batsman because normally I bat up the order, no. 3 or no.4. Today was the opportunity and I’ve been preparing myself as to how to bat at no. 6 and what kind of shots I can play, what kind of bowlers, and how many overs are left. It’s not an easy position to bat at no. 6, where you know you are the last main batsman and you have to play with the bowlers if anything happens up the top. That’s what happened today.”
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He said he was prepared to play percentage cricket and didn’t play some of his shots to play risk-free cricket. However, he Pandey, however, said he still relishes batting higher up at No. 3, like in the IPL. He also said that head coach Ravi Shastri has been helping him prepare to play the finisher’s role.
