Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Manish Pandey's 2nd T20 century helps Karnataka register huge win

Manish Pandey was in crackling form for Karnataka in a Group D match against Arunachal Pradesh played at Barabati Stadium, Cuttack on Sunday. Pandey remained not out on 111 off 46 balls with 9 fours and 7 sixes, which helped Karnataka post a massive total of 226 runs in 20 overs. In reply, Arunachal Pradesh were all out for 80 runs, as Karnataka won by a huge margin of 146 runs.

During the 2009 IPL edition held in South Africa, Pandey had become the first Indian to score a century in the tournament. Playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore, the hard-hitting batsman blasted a century against Deccan Chargers on 21st May 2009 at Centurion.

Pandey remained not out on 114 off 73 balls in that match with 10 fours and 4 sixes, which helped his team post 170 for 4 in 20 overs. Royal Challengers Bangalore eventually won the match by 12 runs.

Since the inception of IPL in 2008, the right-handed batsman has played for Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Pune Warriors India and Kolkata Knight Riders. And he played for Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2018.

But Pandey was not in the best of form during IPL 2018. He scored just 284 runs from 15 matches with a highest score of 62 not out.

Making his T20I debut in 2015 against Zimbabwe, Pandey has only played 28 T20I matches for Team India and scored 538 runs with a highest score of 79 not out. Overall in T20s, he has played 200 matches with 4351 runs and a highest score of 114* which includes 2 centuries and 21 half centuries.

Pandey will be playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad franchise again in IPL 2019, and will be looking to make a mark with the bat and prove his worth. Despite Pandey not performing well in IPL 2018, Sunrisers Hyderabad finished as the runners up - which shows the depth and competition for spots in the XI.