NZ vs IND 2020: Manish Pandey admits to a shift in mentality after being made to play at No. 6
After playing a pivotal knock in India’s nail-biting victory against New Zealand in the fourth T20I at Wellington, Manish Pandey admitted that although he’d ideally prefer to bat up the order, he has to settle for performing well at no. 6 due to the intense competition for places at the top in the Indian team.
India were in a precarious situation when Pandey came out to bat and things became increasingly difficult, given the fact that the 30-year-old kept losing his strike partners at the other end at regular intervals.
However, Pandey showed great composure and with a little bit of help from Shardul Thakur, powered India to a respectable total of 165.
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Pandey shed light on the process which has helped him acclimatise to the change in batting position, revealing that he’s had to be calculative of the kind of shots he could potentially come in and play and what kind of bowler’s he’d be up against.
"I have to start preparing my mind as a No.6 batsman because normally I bat up the order, No. 3 or No. 4," Pandey told reporters in the post-match press conference.
"Here with the competition up top, you just have to wait for your chances, exactly how it used to happen before this. There were hardly six or 10 balls that I would play before. Today was the opportunity, and I've been preparing myself as to how to bat No.6 and what kind of shots I can play, what kind of bowlers, and how many overs are left. You've got to start preparing when you're sitting outside. You need to calculate," he concluded.