[Watch] Manish Pandey hits the gym hard ahead of Sri Lanka tour
Manish Pandey is one of the players traveling to Sri Lanka as part of India's new-look ODI setup for the limited-overs series starting July 13. The Karnataka batsman is currently part of the squad that's undergoing their quarantine and took to Instagram to share a status update on the preparations.
Wearing the India training jersey, Pandey uploaded two images - one of him striking a pose, and the other, where he was hard at work. The caption read:
"If you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit💙"
You can see the images below:
"Manish Pandey should have been named captain"
Manish Pandey's good run in the IPL, along with his experience in the national side, made him an automatic choice when the squad was being picked for the island nation tour.
Earlier, in an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda, former cricketer Dodda Ganesh had opined that Pandey should have been made skipper for the tour.
"If they were looking for seniority as a measure, Manish Pandey should have been named as captain of the Indian team for the Sri Lanka tour. How fit is Bhuvneshwar Kumar to play as vice-captain? Manish knows the players, he has travelled a lot too. If Dhawan is called as a back-up ahead of the England series, who will lead the team? In terms of seniority, Manish will then be handed over the reigns," Dodda Ganesh said.
Pandey has quite the CV, having led Karnataka to multiple titles in the domestic circuit. The 31-year-old batsman has a staggering record of registering 15 consecutive T20 wins in a single calendar year back in 2019, including back-to-back Syed Mushtaq Ali titles.
IPL 2021 saw him stack up 193 runs from five games at an average of 48.25. He struck two fifties during the now-paused tournament.
India squad for Sri Lanka series
Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Suryakumar Yadav, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Nitish Rana, Ishan Kishan (Wicket-keeper), Sanju Samson (Wicket-keeper), Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, K Gowtham, Krunal Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (Vice-captain), Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Chetan Sakariya
Net Bowlers: Ishan Porel, Sandeep Warrier, Arshdeep Singh, Sai Kishore, Simarjeet Singh