New Delhi: After he was included into the Indian team in place of injured Ajinkya Rahane for the fifth ODI against Australia, Manish Pandey grabbed the opportunity with both hands and slammed a match-winning ton – one that will go down as one of the finest by an Indian in a run chase.
But as BCCI selectors met today to pick India's 15-man squad for the ICC World T20 2016, there is a big debate whether the right-hander should have been preferred over Rahane, who despite being one of India's most consistent performers, isn't the best middle-order batsman in T20Is.
Even though Rahane has been a run-machine for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, he has done so while opening the innings and the Indian think tank would not want to experiment with India's left-right combination of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan.
Virat Kohli will bat at number three and by the time Rahane arrives to the crease, there is no time to waste and he is known to take some time before stepping up the tempo.
In that case, Pandey was certainly a better bet, who could have add more depth to India's formidable batting line-up and also has the reputation of hitting balls into the stands from the word go.
But now that the selectors have left him out of the 15-man squad, it remains to be seen whether it was a wise move by the Sandeep Patil-led committee.
