Bangalore: Manish Pandey is feeling the pressure of holding on to his spot in the Indian ODI team and said here Tuesday that the only way he can beat stiff competition is by scoring tons of runs.
“Definitely, there is pressure in the middle-order. I would like to play more games and win matches for India. I am doing the hard work to try and find a permanent place for me in the playing XI,” he said ahead of the fourth ODI against Australia here Thursday.
Pandey, who scored two half centuries in three innings on his comeback tour of Sri Lanka earlier this month, was not among the runs in the first two ODIs against Australia before making an unbeaten 36 in Indore. With his Karnataka teammate KL Rahul warming the bench in this series, Pandey knows he has to keep performing.
The Karnataka player, batted at No.4 in Chennai and Kolkata before Hardik Pandya’s surprise promotion brought him down to No.6 in Indore.
“It is completely different when you are playing No. 3, 4, o4 6. It is all about the mindset. It is about aggressiveness. I would like to spend more time at the wicket to make myself feel at ease at the crease,” Pandey pointed out.
Pandey also reacted to Harbhajan Singh’s jibe at the struggling Australians. The off-spinner had urged Michael Clarke to come out of retirement to bail the visitors out, stating that the current batsmen lack quality.
“I think it is his views about cricket. I think Australia are a fairly good side and they have quality batsmen. It is this series where they have lost matches on the trot. Nevertheless, they are a team to beat,” stated Pandey.
Press Trust of India
