IND vs NZ | Not easy batting at No. 6 but happy with my performance today, admits Manish Pandey
Manish Pandey has declared that even though batting at No. 6 is not an easy task, especially being the last main batsman to come in and bat, he was pretty happy with the way he batted in the 4th T20I. After India’s middle-order collapsed, Pandey carved out an unbeaten half-century.
After having won the series in the most dramatic way possible, the Super Over in Hamilton, India rested a fringe of their mainstays- Rohit Sharma, Mohammad Shami, and Ravindra Jadeja. India got Sanju Samson to replace the veteran opener whereas Shivam Dube(at 5) still got to bat above Manish Pandey(at 6). Having got enough time to bat, Pandey scored a splendid 36-ball 50 and remained unbeaten as India posted a defendable total of 165. Pandey has admittedly embraced the No. 6 position despite it not being his natural place to bat.
“I guess I got no choice. Batting at 5 or at 6 does not really matter. The team has given me the role to bat at No. 6 because when No.5 comes in there’s one left-arm spinner, one leg spinner, so Dube can capitalize on that. Today I had the opportunity to bat a little early and I’ve been batting well. Didn’t have too much to contribute in the previous few games but today I knew that if I could capitalize on the opportunity, it would be great for me and for the team. I think I did that pretty well and honestly, I’m pretty happy to be in this position,” Manish Pandey said at the post-match press conference.
Despite being used to batting in the top order, Pandey was vested with the responsibilities of batting with the tail. According to Pandey, he has prepared well to bat at the position and it always takes a calculative approach to come out to bat as the last main batsman of the side. While Pandey got to bat only a little across his last few innings, as he used to come to out in the situations wherein he only got to bat for approximately 10 balls. But this time he got enough to prove his mettle and is happy with the output.
“As I said I don’t have a choice other than to be good with it. Because normally I bat up the order, at No. 3 or No. 4, but here where the competition is up top you have to wait for your chances. It used to happen like this, I got approximately 10 balls to faces in an innings before. I’ve been Preparing myself as to how to bat at No. 6 and figure out what kind of areas to hit or what kind of shots to play, how many bowlers are there, how many overs are left. So I think, you need to start preparing when you’re sitting outside, you can calculate,” he revealed.
“It’s not really easy to bat at No.6, as you are last main batsman to come out and you know you have to play with the bowlers(tailenders) if anything happens up top. So that’s what happened today. I was pretty clear about my role and I thought I’ll probably be there on the crease till the end of the 20th over and I think I did pretty well at that and I’m pretty happy with it.”
When asked whether India was mentally prepared for another Super Over, Pandey admitted that the team definitely was after what went down in the preceding game. Additionally, Pandey felt that the way Shardul Thakur delivered in the final over, he deserved to take India to the Super Over, if not a sure-shot victory.
“The possibility of a Super Over was definitely in our minds kyunki pichle baar bhi aisa hua tha [ last time as well the same thing happened]. Hence, we were determined that we have to bowl good balls. As the final over went on, and we were at the final two deliveries of the game, it became obvious that it’s going to be a Super Over, so we were getting ready for it in the back of our minds. The way Shardul Thakur bowled the final over, he deserved to take the team at least to a Super Over,” Pandey added.