Perform or perish: Abhiram's wrath in full force

Bengaluru: If sources are to be believed, and it’s rather believable in this instance, Manish Pandey is ‘heartbroken’ after being told that he is unlikely to don a Karnataka jersey - as a player - ever again. 

The news of him being dropped from the list of probables for the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy didn’t come as a surprise given a couple of pedestrian seasons with the bat, but the announcement that he will not get a chance to ply his wares in the two remaining Ranji Trophy ties in January did rankle the followers. 

J Abhiram, the chief selector, didn’t mince his words when asked about the polarising decision. 

“He hasn’t done anything great this year,” he told DH on Wednesday. “We have a lot of youngsters coming through and it only made sense to give them a chance and build them for the future.”

While Pandey’s returns have been tapering, he was the captain of the last three limited-overs trophies Karnataka won. Moreover, the middle-order bat has scored over twenty thousand runs across three formats in domestic cricket after making his debut for Karnataka in 2007 so his experience would certainly have come in handy. 

Abhiram thought otherwise. “...we have been losing because of our seniors. That’s the sad truth. I had a long talk with him, and told him that he’s 35 and he should start looking beyond his playing career and look at something along the lines of coaching or mentorship.”

“We as an association have realised that we need to move on from the players of old and bring in new blood. We cannot live in past glory.”

Abhiram, quite obviously, is referring to the phase from a decade and more ago where Karnataka completed a treble of domestic titles twice over. Pandey is part of that legacy, the last vestiges of that championship pedigree. 

In fact, save for Mayank Agarwal and Shreyas Gopal, no one else from that era remains as a player. 

When asked why that logic was not applied to the 33-year-old Agarwal, Abhiram said: “This is a message to everybody. You need to perform or you will be left out. In fact, I was very disappointed with the way Vyshak (Vijaykumar) has bowled. He has bowled terribly of late, and Prasidh (Krishna) is never available for us anyway. Everyone is on a notice now." 

He continued: “In the absence of Vidwath (Kaverappa), these guys need to step up, and no one did so we needed to take some stringent measures to ensure Karnataka cricket is healthy. All I can do is thank Manish for his contribution to Karnataka cricket, he has been amazing for us, but it’s time to move on. When we won the twin trebles, it was a young team. This is now a young team. We can get back to those days.”

Abhiram’s perspective is an interesting one because on one hand the association wants to move on from the past but on the other, they want to hold onto the feeling from those many moons ago. 

Either way, Pandey isn’t too chuffed about being treated the way he has been. Again, that’s just what the sources are saying. Pandey himself wasn’t available for a comment so we need to make do with this for now. 

Interesting times await for this 'notice' is going to push some players over the edge, and some above the rest.