First Indian Centurion In IPL: When Manish Pandey Scripted History For RCB In 2009

Manish Pandey scored his maiden IPL ton in IPL 2009 [X]

Not many people know that Manish Pandey, who has somewhat lost in the limelight played alongside Virat Kohli in the 2008 Under-19 World Cup.

The duo played together and won the tournament, and were picked by the same IPL franchise - Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). It is kind of surreal, but Manish Pandey was actually the breakout star between the two players, at-least in the IPL. 

While Brendon McCullum became the first-ever centurion in IPL history, it was Manish who slammed the maiden IPL century by an Indian batter. The famous knock came during the 2009 IPL season, when RCB reached the finals of the cash-rich league. 

The Day Manish Pandey created history in IPL

In the 56th match of the tournament, RCB faced Deccan Chargers, and the Anil Kumble led RCB side batted first.

The match took place on a bouncy Centurion wicket and RCB lost the early wicket of Jacques Kallis. However, opening the batting for the side, Manish Pandey played with responsibility and took the attack to the opposition. It was a bowlers' paradise and the Chargers had some really good bowlers, however, the RCB batter showed his class and belted 4 sixes and 10 fours to score a majestic hundred.

Manish carried his bat throughout the innings and remained unbeaten at 114 off 73 deliveries, at a strike-rate of 156.16. RCB finished with a score of 170/4, and interestingly, it was Kohli, who finished the innings in style, with a quick-fire 19 off 9 balls.

The target was a bit too much for the Deccan Chargers as they were restricted to a score of 158/6. With this knock, Manish Pandey rose to superstardom and became the first Indian cricketer to score an IPL hundred.

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