Kolkata Knight Riders veteran Manish Pandey will once again play for the franchise in IPL 2026, and this will be the 19th time he will step on the field, adding to his legacy in the IPL. He is one of the four players who have been a consistent part of the IPL since its inaugural season in 2008.
When the IPL started in 2008, many players were bought by franchises with the hope of continuing in the IPL. Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni are three players to have played in the history of IPL.
Manish Pandey was selected by Royal Challengers Bangalore (then Royal Challengers Bangalore) as a young player and became the first Indian centurion in the competition and also the youngest player to score his first century in the IPL. However, the records were broken in the following seasons.
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Manish Pandey will play his 19th IPL season
Players in the IPL are generally bought with great vision of continuing for their franchise for years. Manish Pandey was once such a young player; However, his most promising performances came with Kolkata Knight Riders.
Manish Pandey also played in the middle order for India at one time. However, the Indian cricketer, who is out of the team, has not had a good domestic performance and has failed to make an impact in the IPL as well.
This will be the veteran star’s 19th appearance in the upcoming edition of the competition. He is likely to feature in his 19th season in the upcoming match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium on March 29.
Manish Pandey will play his 19th IPL season from tonight.
– He is the only player after MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to play all the seasons. pic.twitter.com/Jh3TpXrPU2
– Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) 29 March 2026
Will Manish Pandey be selected in the playing eleven of KKR?
Kolkata Knight Riders will be looking for their strongest playing XI when they start their campaign in the IPL. In the last season of IPL, Knight Riders finished eighth in the points table.
KKR is likely to start with experienced New Zealand opener Finn Allen. Their eleven will also include players like captain Ajinkya Rahane and foreign all-rounders Cameron Green and Sunil Narine. Tejashwi Dahiya, Rinku Singh and Ramandeep Singh are the three other players in the XI.
The bowling deck will include experienced spinner Varun Chakraborty along with fast bowlers Vaibhav Arora, Umran Malik and Karthik Tyagi. Impact players who could be used in different situations for them would include the likes of Tim Seifert and Rovman Powell in the overseas bank, while they will also have Angkrish Raghuvanshi in the Indian options.
The bench strength includes Manish Pandey and Rahul Tripathi, who may not be brought straight into the XI despite being two senior cricketers in the team.
A brief timeline of Manish Pandey’s IPL career
The 36-year-old Kolkata Knight Riders cricketer made his IPL debut for Mumbai Indians in 2008. RCB then picked him up the following season, where he scored 417 runs in two seasons between 2009 and ’10.
He was then signed by Pune Warriors India and played three seasons for them between 2011 and 2013. Despite scoring a few runs, he did not manage to score at a promising strike rate.
His most promising seasons came between 2014 and 2017, as he scored huge numbers of runs for them. He was one of the best batsmen in KKR’s winning streak in 2014, which led them to their second IPL title.
His tenure with Sunrisers Hyderabad was also successful. He was bought for a huge price of more than Rs 11 crore. After scoring almost 1300+ runs for Sunrisers, the middle order failed to make a comeback in the IPL.
Pandey played the following seasons for LSG in 2022, Delhi Capitals in 2023 and Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024 and 2025. He will be a part of the same franchise once again this season.
Also read: Rohit Sharma will wreak havoc in Wankhede! Former BCCI selector’s big warning to KKR bowlers
