Every season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) throws up some controversy. This year it was the four-match ban handed to promising youngster Manish Pandey
Every season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) throws up some controversy. This year it was the four-match ban handed to promising youngster Manish Pandey.
MiD DAY has learnt from sources that Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) did everything in their capacity to keep Pandey at the franchise, but the batsman played for Pune Warriors.
Manish Pandey
Even as contemporaries Shikhar Dhawan and Saurabh Tiwary, who benefited from making their ODI debut last year, were signed up for bigger sums by their respective franchises at the players' auction in January, Pandey had to settle for a paltry sum since rules did not permit uncapped players to be put up for auction.
It may be recalled that Pandey was the first Indian to score a century in the IPL.
A well-placed source in RCB said: "We all had a lot of faith in him, and really wanted him to stay on. Everyone makes mistakes. Pandey should have at least informed people about his drastic decision.u00a0That's our only problem with him. In the end, he got a four-match ban. We're glad the issue has been dealt with."
MiD DAY has learnt that Pandey didn't answer phone calls from the team's mentor, former India captain Anil Kumble. The source said: "For almost five days Pandey refused to answer Kumble's call. Kumble was forced to speak to Pandey's father, who in turn forced him to get on the line. Kumble wanted to know why he'd taken such a decision without informing RCB. If it was about money, he could have at least spoken about it. Later, Pandey called Rahul Dravid, whom he had formed a good rapport with, for help. Dravid is said to have then explained the reason for his departure to Kumble. Pandey was supposedly unhappy at being dropped for a lot of games last season, and at not getting a better salary later too."
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