 "Who is Gyanendra Pandey, ex-India cricketer who currently works at State Bank of India?")
Over the years, Indian cricket has produced several young, talented cricketers, thanks to the emergence of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Despite the IPL being a platform to showcase a cricketer’s skills, only a select few make it to the national team, sometimes leaving the selectors spoilt for choice.
However, back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the IPL was non-existent, and coming through the ranks of first-class cricket and List A cricketer were the only ways to prove one’s potential. While India produced iconic cricketers like Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan during this phase, the competition for a few other cricketers were tough.
Tinu Yohanan, Deep Dasgupta and Ajay Ratra are a few cricketers who only got to play just a few matches for India. One of the players like them is former all-rounder Gyanendra Pandey, who currently works with State Bank of India (SBI) as a PR agent.
Who is Gyanendra Pandey?
Gyanendra Pandey is a former Indian all-rounder who has played all just two ODIs for India. Pandey made his debut for India in an ODI against Pakistan on 24 March, 1999 in Jaipur. That was a tri-series featuring Sri Lanka as the third team. He endured figures of 0/39 and was dismissed for a two-ball duck. He would go onto play just one more ODI after that, on 1 April against the same opposition in Mohali.
Gyanendra, who got to play with the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, was noticed by the selectors after he collected 254 wickets from 199 First-Class and List A cricket. Gyanendra played 97 Ranji Trophy matches for Uttar Pradesh, registering 4425 runs and taking 148 wickets, which eventually led him to a national team call-up.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“In 1997, I had put up a good performance. In the Duleep Trophy final, I scored 44 runs and took three wickets. I had an extraordinary outing in the Deodhar Trophy. The North Zone featured Vikram Rathour, Virender Sehwag and Navjot Sidhu.
“I took five wickets and scored an unbeaten 23. Against West Zone, I scored 89 not out and took 2-3 wickets against East Zone. Against South Zone, scored 28 or 30 not out and 2-3 wickets,” Pandey said on the Lallantop Show recently.
“In the Challenger Trophy, I dismissed Robin Singh and Amay Khurasiya. For India A, I took two wickets for 26 runs and then got an India call-up. That was in the year 1999,” he added.
Pandey also shared the dressing room with the likes of Virender Swhwag and Mohammad Azharuddin, but his international cricket career soon faded out. He could have featured for India against New Zealand in a Test series in 1999, but Jaywant Lele, who was the BCCI secretary then, was against his selection.
The show’s anchor recalled Lele saying: “If Kumble has asked for a break, why not go for Sunil Joshi?” “Mr. Lele should have thought about what he said. He should have seen my performance. He was an umpire as well. I get it; it was my fault. I didn’t know the tricks; didn’t understand how these thing work. I couldn’t handle it and hence, got defamed. Even the media did not print my side of the story. No one came to ask me anything. They only contacted the top brass,” replied the 52 year-old.
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