NEW DELHI: Kolkata Knight Riders named Manish Pandey in the playing XI against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their IPL 2026 match on Sunday, making him only the third player after Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to feature in at least one match in all 19 Indian Premier League (IPL) seasons.The 36-year-old replaced Ramandeep Singh in the KKR XI for their ninth match of the season. He was bought for Rs 75 crore in the auction and had not played earlier in the season.
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Kumar Sangakkara on RR’s win over Punjab KingsPandey was picked ahead of younger players like Tejasvi Dahiya and Sarthak Ranjan, with captain Ajinkya Rahane opting for experience after Ramandeep’s run of low scores. It was Pandey’s first match at the highest level since last year’s IPL. He was not selected by Karnataka for the 2025-26 home season.MS Dhoni, who is 44, can also join this list if he plays for Chennai Super Kings this season, but he has not played yet due to a calf injury.He has appeared in at least one game in each of the 19 seasons in the IPL
- Virat Kohli
- Rohit Sharma
- Manish Pandey
Pandey started his IPL career with Mumbai Indians in 2008. He later moved to Royal Challengers Bengaluru where he became the first Indian to score a century in the league in 2009. He then joined Pune Warriors India in 2010 and played there for four seasons.His most notable season came with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2014 when he was part of their winning campaign under Gautam Gambhir. He scored 400 runs in a season for the first time that year.He spent four seasons with KKR before moving to Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2018. He later played for Lucknow Super Giants in 2022 and Delhi Capitals in 2023 before returning to KKR in 2024. He played one match in KKR’s title-winning season and three matches last year.KKR, who have won their last two matches, have also brought back Finn Allen, giving the opener another chance after a run of low scores earlier in the season.Sunrisers Hyderabad were without all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy who was rested due to illness. Harshal Patel was among them and they gave Karnataka player Smaran Ravichandran a chance.
