Manish Pandey went past MS Dhoni to join Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to become the third cricketer to play at least one match in each of the 19 seasons of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Pandey’s milestone came on Sunday when Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Ajinkya Rahane named a Karnataka batsman in the playing eleven for the first time in IPL 2026.
Pandey replaced Ramandeep Singh against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Before Pandey, only Rohit (Deccan Chargers and Mumbai Indians) and Kohli (Royal Challengers Bengaluru) played in all 19 seasons of the IPL. Five-time IPL champion Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain Dhoni would be on the list, but the 44-year-old is yet to play a match in the 2026 season due to a calf strain.
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Part of the 2008 World Cup-winning Indian U-19 team, Pandey began his IPL career with the Mumbai Indians in the same year. Pandey spent the next two years with Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). In fact, Pandey was the first Indian batsman to score an IPL hundred in the history of the league. In 2009, he scored an unbeaten 114 off 73 for RCB against the now-defunct Deccan Chargers, which remains his only IPL ton at the age of 19.
After his stint with RCB, Pandey spent three seasons with the former Pune Warriors India between 2011 and 2013 before spending four seasons with KKR. Pandey actually scored a match-winning 94 against Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in the IPL final in 2014. After his release by KKR, Pandey was part of the Sunrisers Hyderabad team from 2018 to 2021.
Pandey’s lackluster stints with Lucknow Super Giants and Delhi Capitals followed before he returned to KKR in the 2024 season.
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Manish Pandey’s IPL Stats
Pandey has played 175 games in the IPL so far and has scored 3942 runs at a strike rate of 121.51. Pandey’s IPL peak came in 2014 and 2020, scoring over 400 runs. In 2014, Pandey scored 401 runs in 16 matches for KKR, while in 2020, the right-hander scored 425 runs for Sunrisers Hyderabad. In 2017, Pandey scored 396 runs for KKR.
For India, Pandey played 29 ODIs and 39 T20Is with his last international in 2021 against Sri Lanka. In ODIs, Pandey has scored 566 runs at an average of 33.29 with one century and two half-centuries, while in the shortest format of the game, the right-hander has scored 709 runs at a strike rate of 126.15 and an average of 44.31 with three half-centuries to his name.
‘It’s been a great journey for me’
Pandey had earlier said that 19 years had passed in a flash. “It’s been a great journey for me – 19 years and the 19th year is going on right now,” Pandey said in a video by KKR. “I started with MI in the first year after the U19 World Cup. It was a great memory to start with, but honestly, it feels like it all just flew by in an instant.”
“So I have seen from 2008 to about 2026, this year continues. Overall it was a great memory and I am happy to be one of those few players who have been a part of all the IPLs and have tried to do justice to myself, this game. It is purely for the passion and love of the game,” he added.
“The way our tournament went, I didn’t expect to open the innings and get the opportunity to get those runs, which helped me a lot. But it was definitely a great memory when I was the first Indian to get a hundred and was the youngest. But now there’s obviously someone else who holds the record,” Pandey said later in the video.
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“But just to be in the situation from that point of view is really amazing. This game has taught us a lot. Obviously this tournament has taught us a lot and we’re always evolving with it. Hopefully we’ll learn a lot more. It was a little bit different when we started,” the Karnataka batsman added.
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