Even though Manish Pandey celebrates his birthday on September 10, the Indian batsman received a bash from his teammates 2 weeks later. The team had returned from Sri Lanka before his actual birthday and there was no occasion of gathering. When the team got together for the Australia series, Pandey got a surprise from the fellow players.
The celebration took place after India’s victory in 2nd ODI against Australia at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. A fan posted a video on Twitter where Pandey was surrounded by the players and the staff members in the hotel. He was shirtless and might have been caught unaware of the surprise.
MS Dhoni held him from the back and the others applied cake on his face and on the head. Pandey tried to avoid but couldn’t get away from what has been a tradition in the Indian dressing room. Earlier, on Dhoni’s birthday, he was also treated the same way.
Here’s the video
https://twitter.com/dhonikohli_fc/status/910914479432466432
ODI spot in danger
Manish Pandey had a wonderful time on the Sri Lankan tour where he played a couple of tremendous knocks. But in the ongoing series against Australia, he has had scores of 0 and 3. His impressive show in Sri Lanka kept KL Rahul out of the side in the first 2 ODIs but now, it’s time he needs to deliver.
Virat Kohli has shown the keenness to include Rahul in the squad and another failure from Pandey could well see him excluded from the side for the upcoming matches.
There is absolutely no doubt about Pandya’s skills but somehow, he hasn’t managed to deliver in the current series. On both occasions so far, he has got out trying to go for flashing strokes outside off. Perhaps, he needs to be cautious at the start and he has the capability to catch up with blistering strokes late in the innings.
