Manish Pandey was on Sunday selected by the Kolkata Knight Riders for their 2026 IPL match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, making it the first game of the season for the veteran batter. In the process, he has become just the third player to have made an appearance in each of the 19 seasons of the tournament.
The only other players to have done this before him are India greats Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Interestingly, MS Dhoni, who has captained all three players in international cricket, is still sitting on 18 seasons as he is yet to play game in the 2026 edition. Pandey has played for six different sides in the IPL but has mostly been associated with KKR. He played for Mumbai Indians in the inaugural season and this was followed by two seasons with Royal Challengers Bengaluru. In his first season with RCB, Pandey became the first Indian to score a century in the IPL. However, that remains his only ton in the league.
Pandey then played for the erstwhile Pune Warriors India between 2011 and 2013 after which came four seasons with KKR. Pandey blasted a match-winning knock of 94 in the 2014 final to power KKR to their second title and this led to him becoming a mainstay in their middle order for three seasons. He was then released by KKR after Sunrisers Hyderabad acquired him. He played for SRH for four seasons, which was followed by rather uneventful stints with Lucknow Super Giants and Delhi Capitals. Pandey returned to KKR ahead of the 2024 season. However, Sunday’s game against SRH is only his fifth appearance since.
Pandey has overall scored 3942 runs in 162 IPL innings at a strike rate of 121.51 and average of 29.41 with one century and 22 half-centuries. A member of the Indian team led by Kohli that won the 2008 U19 World Cup, Pandey has played 29 ODIs and 39 T20Is for India. His last international match was an ODI against Sri Lanka in July 2021. Pandey has scored 566 runs in ODI cricket at an average of 33.29 with one century and two half-centuries. In T20Is, he has scored 709 runs at a strike rate of 126.15 and average of 44.31 with three half-centuries to his name.
