'Had Dhoni given me a chance...': Ishwar Pandey rues not being able to play for India

Tall, lanky pacer from Madhya Pradesh, Ishwar Pandey was one of the most impressive bowlers in the Indian domestic set-up back in 2013-14 season. He was named in India’s squad for the tour of New Zealand, but could never make his debut for the country. He also featured for the Chennai Super Kings and Rising Pune Supergiant. He has now announced his retirement from international and first-class games with an Instagram post. The 33-year-old Pandey has featured in 75 first-class matches, 58 List A games and 71 T20s. He picked up 394 wickets in these matches. In the IPL, he featured in 25 games where he picked up 18 wickets. In his Instagram post, Pandey recalled the time when he shared the dressing room with legends of the game in Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli.

Pandey, in an interview to Dainik Bhaskar, also lamented at not being able to play for India and said that had MS Dhoni, who was India’s captain, given him one chance things would have been different for him. “Had Dhoni given me a chance my career would have been something else. I was 23-24 year old at that time and my fitness was great. Had Dhoni given me a chance to play for India and if I had performed then my career would have been different,” Pandey was quoted as saying by Dainik Bhaskar. In his post on Instagram, he said that it was an honour for him to be a part of the squad for the Test series against England and New Zealand despite not being able to make it to the playing XI. However, he also rued the fact that he will always remain an uncapped player. He also thanked the Rising Pune SuperGiants for giving him the chance to feature in the IPL as it gave him the opportunity to rub shoulders with the best names in world cricket. He was also involved with the Chennai Super Kings and said that winning the Champions League and being part of IPL finals would always be special to him and thanked MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming for their guidance.