SK Flashback: Manish Pandey becomes first Indian IPL centurion

Stage is set for the Maratha derby. As this edition draws to a close today with the final between Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiant at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, it brings to culmination a landmark 10 seasons of the Indian Premier League.

Looking back to where it all started, the tournament has thrown up plenty of exciting and memorable moments down the years - big hits, wickets, last-ball thrillers, unbelievable catches on the field and even controversies off the field.

What this tournament that thrives on the presence of top stars of the international game has also done, besides all the entertainment, is provide a platform for young hopefuls to display their talents and catch the attention of the world.

One such youngster who did so was Manish Pandey. Now an established member of the Kolkata Knight Riders side, the lad from Karnataka was a member of Virat Kohli’s under-19 World Cup winning team but he really burst on to the scene on this very day years ago with a scintillating IPL century – the first by an Indian.

It was in the 2009 edition - just the second season of the tournament. Owing to the general elections in India, the tournament was shifted out to South Africa. Having turned out for Mumbai Indians in the inaugural edition, it was Pandey’s maiden season for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The final league stage match of the season had Royal Challengers Bangalore and Deccan Chargers battling it out at the Super Sport Park in Centurion.

Winning the toss, RCB captain Anil Kumble opted to bat first and Jacques Kallis and Manish Pandey opened the batting. RCB suffered an early blow when Kallis departed, flicking a gentle half volley from RP Singh to short leg. They were almost dealt another when Pandey was given a lifeline very early in his innings.

When he was batting on just 2, Pandey attempted an ambitious upper-cut off Ryan Harris. RP Singh, stationed at third man, was right in line for the catch but made a complete mess of it, losing view of it in the air and letting it go through.

This narrow escape for Pandey would turn out to be costly for Deccan Chargers as the youngster went on to play one of the innings of the tournament.

The very next ball was flicked for a boundary through the cow-corner and a partnership ensued between him and Roelof van der Merwe, who was promoted up the order. The South African-born all-rounder played a quick cameo of 23 at No.3 before getting stumped off Symonds’ bowling.

At the other end, Pandey raced away to his fifty with consecutive sixes over the cow-corner region. Clearly favouring the leg-side for his runs, particularly the area between mid-on and mid-wicket, Pandey getting down on one knee and slog-sweeping, or in his style, slapping it over cow corner, became a feature of his knock and it continues to be one of the lasting images of this fine innings.

Soon after RCB’s total crossed 100, Rahul Dravid departed. Not perturbed by wickets falling around him, Pandey continued to hit a flurry of boundaries at his ends and swiftly moved into the 90s.

In the 18^th over of the innings, the Karnataka batsman gently tapped the ball to wide of long-on for a couple to raise his century. The sheer scale of his domination was underlined by the fact that the rest of the batting had only added 38 runs to the total at the end of the 18^th over.

Pandey remained unbeaten on 114 as RCB finished with a score of 170 and eventually won the game by 12 runs.

Promoted to open in the very last match of the season, his first with RCB, this innings turned out to be a breakthrough in Pandey’s career. He went onto have prolific domestic seasons and made his way into the Indian national team in years to come.