Manish Krishnanand Pandey is an Indian international cricketer. He is primarily a right-handed middle-order batsman representing Karnataka in domestic cricket and Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He played as an opening batsman for his former IPL team, the Royal Challengers Bangalore, and became the first Indian player to score a century in the IPL in 2009 Indian Premier League.

Life and early career

Pandey was born in Nainital, Uttarakhand, but moved to Bangalore at the age of 15 with his family. His father was in the Indian Army. He did his schooling in Kendriya Vidyalaya and later joined the Karnataka State Cricket Association. His sister, Anita Pandey was also a former cricketer who had represented Karnataka. He was a member of the victorious Indian team in the 2008 Under-19 World Cup held in Malaysia.

Indian Premier League

He was selected for the Mumbai Indians squad in the 2008 season of the Indian Premier League. On 21 May 2009, while playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore, he became the first Indian to score a century in the IPL. He was then picked up by the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2014. In the finals, he played a match-winning innings of 94 against Kings XI Punjab and was awarded Man of Match. He had been included in the list of top 10 scorers of 2 IPL seasons, 2014 (401 runs in 16 matches) and in 2017 (396 runs in 13 matches). In 2018, he was picked up by Sunrisers Hyderabad for ₹11 crore. He was dropped for most of the season in IPL 2021, due to lack of form.

At the inaugural IPL Auction in 2008, Pandey was bought by Mumbai Indians for a base price of US $30,000. In 2009, Royal Challengers Bangalore picked Manish Pandey as their specialist middle order batsman. He was retained for the 2010 season for RCB. Later, Pandey played for Pune Warriors India in the IPL 2011, 2012, and 2013 seasons. In the IPL 2014, 2015, and 2016 seasons, Kolkata Knight Riders retained Manish Pandey for his stellar knocks in the group matches throughout the tournament in 2014. In 2018, Manish Pandey became one of the highest paid cricketers in the season. Sunrisers Hyderabad picked him up for US $1.35 million for the season. Pandey continued playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad until 2021.

In the 2022 IPL Auction, Pandey was bought by the Lucknow Super Giants for ₹ 4.6 crores.

In the 2023 IPL Auction, Pandey was bought by the Delhi Capitals for ₹ 2.4 crores.

Domestic Career

Manish plays for Karnataka. He was named captain of the Karnataka team in the 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He captains Karnataka team in various domestic tournaments.

International Career

Pandey made his One Day International (ODI) debut for India against Zimbabwe on 14 July 2015. He had a successful debut that included a 144-run partnership with Kedar Jadhav. Pandey joined Jadhav at the crease when India was struggling at 82 for the loss of 4 wickets and made his maiden half-century before being dismissed for 71 runs. He made his Twenty20 International debut for India on the same tour, on 17 July 2015. Pandey's breakout international innings, however, came six months later in Sydney. In January 2016, his unbeaten maiden ODI century helped India gun down Australia's 330 with two balls to spare and prevent a whitewash. He was selected in the ODI squad for the Australian tour in January 2016. In the final game at the Sydney Cricket Ground, he played a match-winning inning of 104*, helping India win its only match of the series.

He was selected as a replacement of Yuvraj Singh in 2016 World T20 for India. He was named in the 15-man squad for the Champions Trophy in June 2017. However, he injured himself during the IPL and missed out the ICC event for India. In June 2021, he was named in India's One Day International (ODI) and T20I squad for their series against Sri Lanka.