The period of late 1990s and early 2000s was a strange period in Indian cricket. As the team slowly recovered from the infamous match-fixing scandal, with bans served to Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja, newly-appointed captain Sourav Ganguly and the Indian team needed new superstars.
They found quite a few, with the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan making a big name for themselves in the game, but it was also a time when several cricketers were tried and tested, only never to play for India again. Names such as Tinu Yohannan, Iqbal Abdullah, Ajay Ratra, SS Das, Deep Dasgupta, who all played a handful of games before getting dropped, and never returned. Among these players was another name that got lost in the annals of Indian cricket – Gyanendra Pandey.
A left-arm spinner and a capable batter, Pandey became a prominent figure for Uttar Pradesh in the Indian domestic circuit, picking up 254 wickets from 199 games across First-Class and List A cricket. In 97 Ranji Trophy matches, Pandey scored 4425 runs and took 148 wickets. After 2 successful seasons, Pandey made his debut for India in the 1999 Pepsi Cup tri-series featuring Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Interestingly, he debuted in the same series as Sehwag.
Unfortunately, Pandey’s career could not take off and ended abruptly after just 2 ODIs. He went back to playing for Uttar Pradesh and continued for another 6 years before announcing his retirement. Today, he works as a PR agent for the State Bank of India (SBI).
“In 1997, I had put up a good performance. In the Duleep Trophy final, I scored 44 runs and took three wickets. I had an extraordinary outing in the Deodhar Trophy. The North Zone featured Vikram Rathour, Virender Sehwag and Navjot Sidhu. I took five wickets and scored an unbeaten 23. Against West Zone, I scored 89 not out and took 2-3 wickets against East Zone. Against South Zone, scored 28 or 30 not out and 2-3 wickets,” Pandey told The Lallantop in an interview.
“In the Challenger Trophy, I dismissed Robin Singh and Amay Khurasiya. For India A, I took two wickets for 26 runs and then got an India call-up. That was in the year 1999,” Pandey added.
In the 1999 Test series between India and New Zealand, Pandey once again came close to playing for the national team but the then BCCI Secretary, Jaywant Lele did not approve of the all-rounder’s selection. This decision from the BCCI official could very well be the reason why all the doors shut on Pandey once and for all.
“Mr. Lele should have thought about what he said. He should have seen my performance. He was an umpire as well. I get it; it was my fault. I didn’t know the tricks; didn’t understand how these thing work. I couldn’t handle it and hence, got defamed. Even the media did not print my side of the story. No one came to ask me anything. They only contacted the top brass,” Pandey said.
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