‘Never got a call’: Manish Pandey reveals LSG released him ahead of IPL 2023 auction without informing

The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 auction will be taking place in Kochi next month, but ahead of that, all the franchises retained some players, while they also released some others. There were many high-profile players who were not retained including the likes of Kane Williamson and Mayank Agarwal. 

Manish Pandey too was let go by his IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants, but the Karnataka batsman has alleged that he didn’t get to know about the same beforehand. 

Pandey struggled for LSG, and couldn’t leave a lasting impact in IPL 2022, after being signed by the new franchise for a sum of INR 4.6 crores. 

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He was one of the seven players released by LSG, but Pandey has revealed that the franchise didn’t inform him about it. He also added that he understand the move, given the franchise would have wanted some extra money heading into the auction next month. 

“No, I never got a call. I just got to know about it on the day the list was announced. There was no real communication, but yeah that’s alright. As players, you have to be ready. Because if you are not playing a lot of games, I understand from LSG’s point of view that they wanted to release me and get some extra money in the kitty for some other players or whatever the plan is,” said Pandey while speaking to Sportskeeda. 

The middle-order batsman scored just 88 runs in 10 matches for LSG, and couldn’t impress much, but he revealed that he is someone who takes some time to get going. 

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The former KKR and SRH batsman said that he will try to work on his approach going forward. 

“Yeah obviously, it is very important. But at the same time, I am somebody who likes to spend a little bit of time on the wicket. And when I am set, I look to go big. So that’s how I have been playing,” added Pandey. 

He further continued, “And obviously there are days when the batting doesn’t click for you or you don’t get a lot of runs. But this is how I play and, probably as time goes by, I will try and work on it, how much ever I can. I want to be a better player as every day goes on. This is my plan.”