K Jadhav IPL 2021: Why is Manish Pandey not playing today’s IPL 2021 match vs Punjab Kings?

Manish Pandey not playing: Sunrisers Hyderabad have made as many as three changes to their Playing XI for their fourth IPL 2021 match.

During the 14th match of the ongoing 14th season of the Indian Premier League between Punjab Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad in Chennai, Punjab Kings captain Lokesh Rahul has won the toss and chose to bat.

“We will bat first. Pretty obvious decision, put the runs on the board and defend it. Everyone have been given responsibilities – we’re a new team this season, will take time for the roles to sink in for everyone. A couple of wins. the belief will be back,” Rahul told Star Sports during the toss.

Coming on the back of two consecutive losses, Punjab have made three changes to their Playing XI as their overseas pair of fast bowlers in Jhye Richardson and Riley Meredith have been dropped in addition to spinner Jalaj Saxena.

While Kings have handed individual debuts to Moises Henriques and Fabian Allen, they have also included spinner Murugan Ashwin on his home ground for this match.

Why is Manish Pandey not playing vs Punjab Kings?

Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner, on the other hand, laid emphasis on “learning from mistakes” after losing their first three matches this season.

“Everyone in this franchise are positive – need to learn from the mistakes, those little things in the game. Conditions over here are very different to what we encountered in Dubai last season. Need to bowl well and get back to winning ways,” Warner told Star Sports during the toss.

Much like Punjab, Hyderabad have also made three changes to their Playing XI as batsmen Kane Williamson and Kedar Jadhav (debut) and fast bowler Siddarth Kaul have been included for batsmen Manish Pandey and Abdul Samad and spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

While Rahman has been benched to accommodate Williamson in the XI, Samad has been rested after having pulled his hamstring. Pandey, who is Sunrisers’ second-highest run-scorer (101 runs in three innings at an average of 50.50) this season, has been dropped.

During the toss, Warner wasn’t asked about the same but it seems that Pandey’s strike rate of 112.22 was beginning to be a concern for SRH. Moreover, playing both Williamson and Pandey in the middle-order would’ve been a tad too conservative.

Kedar Jadhav IPL 2021 price

Jadhav, 36, who had made his IPL debut for Delhi Capitals in 2010, will be representing his fifth IPL team after having stints for Kochi Tuskers Kerala, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings over the years. Jadhav was bought by SRH for his base price of INR 2 crore in IPL 2021 auction.