2022 Asia Cup might be over, but during the tournament the Indian cricket fans missed one major development. Domestic stalwart and leading Madhya Pradesh pacer Ishwar Pandey announced his retirement from the game aged 33. The right arm pacer was part of the MP team which won the Ranji Trophy this year. Pandey played 3 games before getting injured and losing out a chance to play the knock outs and also be part of the final where the Chandrakant Pandit coached side beat Mumbai in the final to claim their 1st title.
Pandey speaks about not getting support from MS Dhoni –
Ishwar Pandey was picked for the Indian side on a few occasions, in the middle of the 2010’s decade. Pandey known for his impeccable line and length was touted as India’s Glenn McGrath. Pandey was part of the side which toured England in 2014 but couldn’t make his test debut. Post his retirement he said this while speaking to Dainik Jagran “ If Dhoni had given a chance, my career would have been different. Then I was 23-24 years old and my fitness was also very good. Had Dhoni bhai given me a chance and I would have done well for the country, my career would have been different for sure”
Pandey’s domestic career in a nutshell –
Ishwar Pandey made his domestic debut in 2010 against Goa, where he picked 4 wickets during the game. His last match was against Kerala where he picked 3 wickets for 78 runs earlier this year. In all, Pandey played 75 matches and picked 263 wickets, with a best of 8/84. The tall pacer had decent pace with the ball and an effective short ball, he also played 58 List A games and picked 63 wickets. In the T20 format he picked 68 wickets from 71 games with an economy of 7.
Short stint with CSK –
Out of the 71 T20 games he played , 25 were in the IPL which spanned for two years with the men in yellow having him play most of the games. Pandey made his debut for Pune Warriors and was part of the team when Gayle scored 175 not out. In 25 IPL matches he picked 18 wickets with a best of 2/23 and an economy of 7.6 runs per over. His last appearance was in 2015 aged 25 for CSK against PBKS, where he picked 1/22 getting the wicket of Manan Vohra.