Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) player Manish Pandey played stunning innings of 61 runs off 41 deliveries against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Mumbai. However, his effort wasn’t enough to take the team home. While chasing a target of 188 runs, the SRH were restricted to 177 for 5 by KKR bowlers did a fantastic job and won the game by 10 runs as well.

Manish Pandey, who came to bat at No 3, supported well to Jonny Bairstow (55). But once England batsman got out, Pandey looked struggling in the middle, and later he lacked support too from the other end. And, just when the asking rate started increasing in the death overs Pandey failed to manage a boundary in the last six overs, apart from the six he hit off the last ball of the innings.

While speaking about his innings, former swashbuckling Indian opener Virender Sehwag opined that Pandey was well settled in the middle but he couldn’t find boundaries. In a conversation with Cricbuzz, he shared his thoughts while answering a fan’s question over Manish Pandey’s inability to hit big in death overs despite setting his eyes in.

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“Pandey couldn’t hit a boundary in the last three overs he batted against KKR. That lone six came off the last ball when the match was over. He had an important role play. He already had faced the pressure and was set. Had he taken the initiative to smash a few boundaries, SRH wouldn’t have lost the game by 10 runs,” Sehwag told Cricbuzz.

“It happens sometimes that you are a set batsman but you don’t get the balls to hit. I think the same thing had happened with Manish Pandey. He didn’t get any ball in his radar and hence, he couldn’t hit a six,” he further added.

And, the veteran also tweeted about teams having ‘stat-padding batsmen’, claiming that such teams will struggle in the league as well.

Teams that will have stat padding batsmen end up batting long overs without changing gears quickly will struggle. Depriving hitters and finishers by leaving very less balls and making it very difficult. Happened last year, and such teams will struggle always #IPL

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) April 11, 2021

Former Indian speedster Ashish Nehra also praised KKR captain Eoin Morgan for making the changes in field positions to restrict Manish Pandey from hitting big as well.

“Pandey’s radar is mostly towards mid-wicket and long-on. Until the mid-wicket fielder was up (inside the circle), he got runs. Once the fielder went deep, Pandey found it difficult to score. For this, I would like to appreciate KKR captain Eoin Morgan. He may have made the change in the field a bit late but the move worked in restricting Manish Pandey,” shared Ashish Nehra.