File photo of Ishwar Pandey with MS Dhoni© Instagram/Ishwar Pandey
Pacer Ishwar Pandey, who had a decent time in the MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL), announced his retirement on Tuesday. The veteran of 75 first-class (263 wickets) and 58 List A matches (63 wickets) could never make it to the national side. In 2014, the right-arm pacer was picked in the Test squad for a Tour of New Zealand, but he played only one of the Tour Games. In the IPL, Ishwar picked 18 wickets in 25 matches during his stint with CSK, Rising Pune Supergiants and Pune Warriors.
While recalling the time spent with MS Dhoni, Ishwar in an interview to Dainik Bhaskar, recalled a funny story.
“Once we were playing against RCB in Bengaluru in the IPL and AB de Villiers came out to bat. Mahi bhai handed me the ball and instructed me to not bowl a yorker. I beat him in 3-4 deliveries but was hit for a boundary on the fifth ball of the over. With the final delivery left, I decided to bowl a yorker. It turned out to be a low full toss but I managed to get de Villiers’ wicket on that delivery.
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“Dhoni came to me after that and jokingly scolded me for bowling a yorker. He then patted my back and asked me to not bowl him another yorker,” Pandey recalled
After announcing his retirement, the pacer said that things would have been different had MS Dhoni given him a chance. “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.
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