Kolkata Knight Riders veteran Manish Pandey would once again feature for the franchise in IPL 2026, and this will be the 19th time he will step onto the field, adding to his legacy in the IPL. He has been one of the four players to have been a constant part of the IPL since its inaugural season in 2008.
When the IPL started back in 2008, several players were bought by the franchises with the same hope to continue in the IPL. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and MS Dhoni are among the three players to have played in the history of the IPL.
Manish Pandey was picked as a youngster by the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (then Royal Challengers Bangalore) and went on to be the first-ever Indian centurion in the competition and also the youngest to have scored a maiden century in the IPL. However, the records were broken in the following seasons.
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Manish Pandey to play his 19th IPL season
Players in the IPL are usually bought with a great vision to continue over the years for their franchises. Manish Pandey was once such a young player; however, his foremost promising show came with the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Manish Pandey also went on to feature for India in the middle order at one time. The out-of-favor Indian cricketer has, however, not had the best of domestic runs and has also failed to have an impact in the IPL.
This will be the veteran star’s 19th appearance in the upcoming edition of the competition. He is most likely to play his 19th season in the upcoming game between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Mumbai Indians on the 29th of March at the Wankhede Stadium.
Manish Pandey will be playing his 19th IPL season starting from tonight.
– He’s the only player after MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to play all the seasons. pic.twitter.com/Jh3TpXrPU2
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) March 29, 2026
Will Manish Pandey be picked in the KKR playing XI?
The Kolkata Knight Riders will look to have their strongest playing XI as they start their campaign in the IPL. The Knight Riders finished eighth in the Points table in the previous season of the IPL.
KKR are most likely to start with New Zealand veteran opener Finn Allen. They will also have the likes of skipper Ajinkya Rahane and overseas all-rounders Cameron Green and Sunil Narine in their XI. Tejasvi Dahiya, Rinku Singh, and Ramandeep Singh are the three other players in the XI.
The bowling deck would comprise veteran spinner Varun Chakravarthy alongside the seamers Vaibhav Arora, Umran Malik and Kartik Tyagi. The impact players who could be used in different situations for them would comprise players like Tim Seifert and Rovman Powell, in the overseas bank, while they will also have Angkrish Raghuvanshi among the Indian options.
The bench strength comprises Manish Pandey and Rahul Tripathi, who might not be directly brought into the XI, despite being the two senior cricketers in the side.
A brief timeline of Manish Pandey’s IPL career
The 36-year-old cricketer from the Kolkata Knight Riders made his IPL debut back in 2008 for the Mumbai Indians. RCB then picked him the following season, where he amassed 417 runs across the two seasons between 2009 and ’10.
He was then included in the Pune Warriors India and played three seasons for them between 2011 and 2013. Despite having scored some runs, he didn’t manage to score at a promising strike rate.
His most promising seasons came between 2014 and 2017, as he amassed a large number of runs for them. He was one of the best batters in KKR’s winning streak in 2014, which led them to their second IPL title.
He had a successful stint with the Sunrisers Hyderabad as well. He was bought at a whopping price of over INR 11 crores. Having amassed nearly 1300+ runs for the Sunrisers, the middle order failed to bounce back in the IPL.
Pandey played the following seasons for LSG in 2022, Delhi Capitals in 2023 and the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024 and 2025. He will once again be part of the same franchise this season as well.
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