Nostalgia Cam: Manish Pandey’s ton of goodness

For a tournament that started with a mind-boggling century, it was pretty hard to believe that no Indian had managed to reach the three-figure mark.

What was even more surprising that India were the winners of the maiden World T20, the country was full of young talent who had just started giving the impression that they were cut out for this business. The first season of the league was won by a team that had some unknown homegrown talent. Rajasthan Royal’s win was a testimony to the fact that the Indians had taken to this new format and league like fish to the water.

But yet, the century remained elusive for the Indian players. There were as many as six in the inaugural season. And pretty early in the second season, which was being played in South Africa, local lad AB de Villiers had cracked a hundred against Chennai Super Kings.

The season was coming to its business end. But after 114 matches played in the IPL, it finally happened. A youngster who was a part of the Virat Kohli-led 2008 U-19 World Cup-winning squad played a blitzkrieg knock at the SuperSport Park, Centurion.

Manish Pandey opened the innings and played one of the best knocks the IPL had ever seen, raising his ton against the Deccan Chargers in just 67 balls. His valiant batting effort helped RCB set up 170 on the board. Interestingly, Manish remained unbeaten on 114, exactly those many matches it took to witness a hundred by an Indian in the IPL.