Retention Day saw some of the of the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). While there were some big overseas names like Kieron Pollard, Kane Williamson and Dwayne Bravo, who weren’t retained, a few Indian players like Mayank Agarwal, Manish Pandey and Ajinkya Rahane too couldn’t win trust of their old franchises. A veteran of domestic cricket, Pandey, who spent his best years at Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad was picked by one of the two new franchises Lucknow Super Giants for INR 4.6 crore, however, his number remained low for the KL Rahul-led side.
Pandey was one of the seven players released by the Lucknow side, however, the batter had no prior information about the same. Pandey said that he never got a call that he was being released by the franchise and he only got to know the same on the retention day. However, he has made peace with the fact as the franchise needed some extra money going into the auction thinking from their perspective.
“No, I never got a call. I just got to know about it on the day the list was announced. There was no real communication, but yeah that’s alright. As players, you have to be ready. Because if you are not playing a lot of games, I understand from LSG’s point of view that they wanted to release me and get some extra money in the kitty for some other players or whatever the plan is,” Manish said while speaking to Sportskeeda.
Pandey scored just 88 runs in six matches striking at 110. Pandey, who said that he hasn’t been approached by any other franchise, mentioned that strike rate is important but he is someone who likes to take some balls before getting set but once that’s out of the way, he likes going for his shots and that’s how he plays his game.
“Yeah obviously, it is very important. But at the same time, I am somebody who likes to spend a little bit of time on the wicket. And when I am set, I look to go big. So that’s how I have been playing. And obviously there are days when the batting doesn’t click for you or you don’t get a lot of runs. But this is how I play and, probably as time goes by, I will try and work on it, how much ever I can. I want to be a better player as every day goes on. This is my plan,” he added.
