Only four players have been in all of the IPL seasons since 2008, and Pandey is one of them. It’s unusual to have someone who’s been around for so long in a league where teams change so much. He started with Mumbai Indians after playing in the Under 19 World Cup, and quickly became known for staying calm, hitting the ball cleanly and good fielding, in all sorts of roles and for different teams. He says the whole experience has been amazing and went by in the blink of an eye, and that he is happy to be one of the few to have been involved in every IPL season, always doing his best for himself and the sport. He’s there because he really loves and is passionate about cricket.
A veteran across every IPL season
The turning point in his IPL career came in 2009 when the IPL was being played in South Africa. Royal Challengers Bengaluru unexpectedly moved him up the batting order and the 19 year old took the chance to make a very good hundred. This made him the first Indian to get a hundred in the IPL, and instantly made him a significant part of the league’s history.
Now with a lot of experience, Pandey remembers that he wasn’t expecting to open the batting, the occasion was huge and he learned a lot, very quickly. That hundred didn’t just win RCB points; it proved that young Indian batsmen could lead in a major global T20 competition, not just manage to get through it.
From MI beginnings to a landmark RCB hundred
Five years later, in 2014, he showed again how good he is in important matches. He scored 95 in the final for Kolkata Knight Riders, and he says that innings completely changed his life. That performance got him considered for the Indian team and led to 29 One Day Internationals and 39 T20 Internationals, and showed everyone he’s a player who does well when the pressure is on, particularly at the end of the innings.
Pandey’s career has gone along with the changes in the IPL. He remembers when a score of 160 was a really good one and 140 could be enough to win. Nowadays the game is much faster, teams score a lot more runs, and bowlers have many different ways to bowl. The IPL is now a place where players have to show they can adjust, and have to keep improving their skills each year to stay in the game.
A final that changed everything
This change has meant that batsmen like Pandey need to be flexible. They have to quickly move between the wickets, find gaps in the field and speed up their scoring at the end of the innings. Now there’s a lot more to tactics, like which bowlers to use against which batsmen in the middle of an innings, and how batsmen can take risks with the short boundaries and heavier bats which generally favour aggressive batting.
The IPL’s evolution and a batter’s adaptation
He thinks the IPL is now the most important T20 cricket competition in the world. It attracts the best players and is also a great way to find new talent. It doesn’t take long for a player who has done well in domestic cricket to get a prominent role in the IPL and the league rewards being calm and confident when under pressure.
For Indian players, the IPL is also a chance to get picked for the national team. Pandey is open about this. The team selectors are watching, and if you play consistently well, you’ll keep your place in the team. The pressure of the IPL is just something you have to accept. If you do well under it, opportunities will come, but if you struggle, you won’t get much leeway.
His own career is proof of this. The league allowed him to get into the Indian team and then provided a way to stay in it. To do that you need discipline, to be fit and to be able to start again after each game. For almost twenty years Pandey has dealt with these demands and is still a reliable option when the team needs to chase a score.
Pressure, selection, and the pathway to India caps
As Kolkata Knight Riders get ready to play Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede, Pandey’s inclusion adds balance to a very good team. On a good pitch with a fast outfield, his ability to change his style and bat for a long time could be a real advantage. He’s been good at controlling the pace of the innings when early wickets have fallen, or when a team chasing a score needs a steady hand.
He also leads by what he does. Someone who’s been through all the different stages of the IPL can offer a different view in a tense changing room. He knows how to judge the pitch, when to deal with the pressure and when to go for shots into the spaces on the edge of the field to change how the game is going.
KKR 2026: experience for the big moments
The game at the Wankhede also completes a circle. He first came to attention in the IPL with MI, and now, going back to the same ground as an experienced player with KKR, he shows how the tournament has changed and the strength you need to last in it.
Nineteen seasons have given him more than just numbers (and they are good). Manish Pandey in the IPL is remembered for some key innings: the first hundred by an Indian for RCB, the 95 that won KKR the championship, and a long list of times he’s finished games off when the scores were close.
Pandey says it all seems to have happened very quickly. But he’s left his mark. He connects the early, experimental days of the IPL with the more mature league that now sets the pace for T20 cricket around the world. And as 2026 begins, his story is still being written, with one high-pressure situation after another.
