‘Have no choice’: Manish Pandey on batting at No.6 in New Zealand T20Is

Shardul Thakur, KL Rahul and even Virat Kohli’s performance was highlighted in India’s second successive Super Over win against New Zealand inside three days in the Westpac Stadium in Wellington on Friday. The fast bowler for taking the match into the Super Over by picking up two wickets in the final over and Kohli and Rahul for their precised batting in chasing down the required 14 runs in 5 balls. But if it wasn’t for Manish Pandey then probably would not have got to the 165-run total they put on board. Pandey scored his third T20I fifty and remained unbeaten to help India to 165 for 8 after they were reduced to 88 for 6 at one point.

Pandey, who generally bats in the top-order for Karnataka and India A, has been batting at No.6 in this T20I series in New Zealand. On two of the 4 T20Is, all-rounder Shivam Dube was sent ahead of Pandey.

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“I have no choice. 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. Here with the competition up the top, you just have to wait for your chances,” he said at a press conference after India’s Super Over win over New Zealand in the fourth T20I in Wellington.

Pandey, who scored an unbeaten 50 off 36 balls also stitcthed an important 47-run partnership with Shardul Thakur that bailed India out of trouble.

“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. I was pretty clear about my role.

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“I just have to play those two’s, look to rotate the strike. I’ve been working on that and today I thought it came off really well. If you want to bat at six, then you have to be pre-ready. The game is already set for you at no. 6 and you just have to sometimes go and perform at the speed that the previous batsmen have set for you,” Pandey said.

This is the second time in a row in this series that New Zealand have collapsed in the final over after a comfortable run chase. While the hosts needed 10 to win off the last over in the previous T20I, in Wellington, they needed just seven and went on to lose four wickets. Pandey said that India will be looking to seal an unprecedented 5-0 series win in Mount Maunganui on Sunday.

“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,” he said.

“And now we have an opportunity to make it 5-0 and it will be really amazing to do that. Come the fifth match, 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. So, I think it will be a great start to do that.”

(With IANS inputs)