Karnataka denied replacement for Manish Pandey

Manish Pandey had an especially great day on Wednesday, the 7^th of December. Not only did he have a great day in the field, when his Ranji side Karnataka bundled out Maharashtra for a measly 163, he would also find out that he earned his maiden call-up to the Indian Test squad.

It was certainly a great moment for him, but the manner in which his call-up took place certainly caused controversy as he was set to leave the match with one day having been played already. There was plenty hue and cry over whether such an activity should even be permissible.

For Karnataka, a win would mean they would avoid a strong Tamil Nadu side in the quarter-finals. The match Pandey was pulled out of was no dead rubber, in fact, it was a match of great consequence.

It is thus no surprise then that the Karnataka team tried to get a replacement for Manish Pandey midway through the game. The request was sternly denied by the Maharashtra team who were too bothered about the result of the game to worry about niceties.

After careful consultation with MV Sridhar, BCCI's general manager of cricket operations, Karnataka approached Maharashtra's captain to table the unusual request. Swapnil Gugale, the skipper, denied it without a second thought whatsoever.

"The match referee had asked for a substitute and we said no. That's it. The game is a little crucial for us and you never know what can happen tomorrow." Gugale informed Espncricinfo.

Karnataka had spoken to match referee Pranab Roy about the issue. Roy confirmed to The Hindu that appropriate channels were used to tackle the issue. "[The] rules are clear that a replacement can be allowed subject to the consent of the captain of the opposing team. But when fielding in the second innings, Karnataka will be allowed a substitute fielder."

Perhaps most intriguingly, the match referee confirmed that if Pandey were not to be selected for the game and subject to the Indian team management’s approval, he could return and play the rest of the game for Karnataka.

After England won the toss and elected to bat on day 1, Kohli informed us what we all expected, that Pandey would not make the playing XI.

At this point, one must spare a thought for Manish Pandey who is caught between a rock and a hard place. While national duty will always be the highest honour, he has put his state side, that has helped him in becoming the cricketer he is today, in a tough spot.

Even without Manish Pandey, Karnataka are in a strong place to pick up the win against Maharashtra.