Manish Pandey proved today that there’s more to him than the bat-flashing T20 star seen in the Indian Premier League’s second season. The 20-year-old, who hit the headlines earlier this year with two stunning knocks for the Bangalore Royal Challengers, carried his form to longer version of the game, cracking an unbeaten 194 in Karnataka’s opening Ranji Trophy game against Uttar Pradesh.

If his IPL high was all about audacious strokeplay, Tuesday’s performance highlighted his quality of concentrating for long hours. Pandey joined skipper Rahul Dravid in the middle with Karnataka struggling at 27/3. The youngster wouldn’t have asked for a better senior partner as he started the reconstruction work and by the time he was done, Karnataka had reached 372 for five. Dravid missed his century by three runs.

“When I walked in, Rahulbhai told me that the need of the hour was to stay put. He told me build a small partnership. Later, when I had spent enough time on the pitch, I played my natural game. This innings is special for me. And since it’s the first game of a long season, it is great,” a delighted Pandey told The Indian Express.

Pandey’s show is creditable as UP have a a fairly strong bowling attack, with RP Singh leading the charge with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Piyush Chawla heading the spin department.

Just before the beginning of season, Pandey was very keen to make an impact in the longer version of the game, having failed to make an impression in the Ranji Trophy last season.

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