IPL 2017: 5 unsung heroes

#2 Manish Pandey

He is so cool, he could be India’s next big finisher

For an Indian national in the Champions Trophy Squad, Manish Pandey is a paradox as far as publicity is concerned. The first Indian IPL centurion and one of the youngest to score a century in IPL has quietly been accumulating runs for KKR away from the limelight that has been taken by KKR’s top 4 – Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir.

In 12 innings, Pandey has scored 396 runs with an impressive strike-rate of 128.57, playing mostly in the middle overs. More than the strike-rate it is his stupendous average of 49.5 that shows how good a finisher he has been for KKR this year.

Two innings have stood out in particular – his 81* off 47 balls against MI at their fortress, Wankhede, and then 69* off 49 against Daredevils in their own den.