Follow UsAt 35 years of age, Manish Pandey is no longer the sought-after superstar he was a few years back, but that didn’t stop defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) from purchasing him for INR 75 lakh at the IPL 2025 mega auction as a backup batter.
Pandey was with KKR as a backup batter in IPL 2024 as well, and though he played only one match, he came up with a match-winning contribution of 42 under pressure against Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede.
KKR thus had no hesitation in buying back the ever-professional Pandey, but former India captain Kris Srikkanth, known for his blunt takes, brutally mocked the experienced right-hander, asking how the veteran managed to find a team despite doing ‘nothing’ for the best part of 15 years.
“Is Manish Pandey still playing cricket? How did KKR pick him? He has been playing without doing anything for 15 years, I don’t know how. I vaguely remember him doing well in 2009 but how is he still around?,” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.
When Anirudha Srikkanth pointed out that Pandey shone for KKR in the IPL 2014 final, Kris Srikkanth replied by saying, “That was a one-off knock. Yes, he did well long, long back but then even you and I can say that we played good knocks back in the day.”
Further, talking about KKR, the former India opener opined that he was not convinced one bit by the franchise’s decision to appoint Ajinkya Rahane as skipper.
“It looks like a good side but I’m not convinced by Ajnkya Rahane captaining the side, let me be very frank,” Srikkanth said.
“Rahane was deadly with the bat two years ago [for CSK] but he has not touched those heights before or after. Even last year he had a very ordinary season for CSK. So you will be picking him just for captaincy. I don’t think that’s a correct move.”
