The ever-stylish Karnataka batter Manish Pandey has recently backed Sanju Samson and says that the latter should get a longer run in the Indian squad.
Pandey has been a part of India’s squad multiple times in ODIs and T20Is.
The Karnataka batter has been showing signs of struggle with his form recently.
Due to his style of playing and attitude at No.3, the Indian team soon lost patience with him.
Looking at his international career, we can see that Pandey has played 29 ODIs and 39 T20Is for India.
Pandey’s last T20I series was against Australia in 2020 and his last ODI series was against Sri Lanka in 2021.
India are now more focused on the likes of Sanju Samson, Suryakumar Yadav, and Shreyas Iyer.
That’s why Pandey wants India to give a longer run to Sanju Samson in international cricket.
Says Pandey,
See obviously, individually I would feel a little sad about it. But I am sure, whatever calls the Indian team was taking or whoever was playing a certain number of games, I was happy for them. Sanju was batting well, so I thought he should have now gotten games and he did. So no hard feelings there. But on a personal front, I would obviously want to play a lot more games and prove myself at the highest level. But unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Maybe see how it goes from here on.
Recently, IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants have also released Pandey from their squad.
Additionally, he has not been able to perform well in the Vijay Hazare Trophy as well.
Adding further, he says,
I have been through that situation even with the Indian team. Because there were a lot of times where I have not played a lot of games and I have been sitting out. You actually feel a little sad about it, but it is all in the spirit of the game where the team requires something and then you have to abide by that. So I have been in these kinds of situations before and I think I should not be letting all these things affect me which will eventually affect my game. So I just want to be in the present. If I get an opportunity, I want to play and score well and see how it goes from there.
In conclusion, Pandey said that he would perform better in the next season of the IPL.
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