Former India cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra believes that Manish Pandey will have to score a century in the third and final ODI on Friday (July 23) against Sri Lanka in order to cement his position in Team India.
The 31-year-old has been in and out of the Indian team in recent years and was given a chance to cement his spot in the side in the ongoing white-ball series in Sri Lanka, where he has batted at the No. 4 in the first two ODIs but failed to score big, scoring 37 and 26 runs.
Ahead of the final ODI on Friday, the commentator said Pandey is lucky to be given the No.4 position in the Indian ODI batting lineup and now he should prove that he is worthy of this position.
Chopra said on his Youtube channel: “Pandey ji will have to score a century in the last match if he has to strengthen his case. Manish Pandey is on a slightly slippery slope. He is a good player, we all like him because he gives his 110 percent whenever he is on the field, puts in the dives, he is a gun fielder, one of the best that India has.”
The former batsman added, “He has batted okay in both ODIs, he did get out playing a bad shot in the first ODI. That is something I felt bad about because he has been given the No.4 position in the Indian ODI batting lineup, no one gets it because there is such a long list of good players, it is enough even if you get to play and if you get, it is at No.5 or No.6.”
He further said Pandey was unlucky to get run-out in the second ODI as he was looking good with the bat.
Chopra continued, “In the second innings, he was so unfortunate that you and I can't really complain. The expectation is that he scores runs in the third match and consolidates his position. He has done just about enough that you will keep his name in the reckoning but the road ahead is not easy.”
The commentator signed off by saying, “The player who came after him, 31 not out in the first match and more than fifty in the second match. The player who went above him scored fifty in the first match and got dismissed in the second match. When you have a fight like that and Shreyas Iyer is sitting out, he will also come. Rahul, Rohit, Shikhar Dhawan, and Virat Kohli - these four anyways play, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya - there are very few places.”
