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There are some names in the history of IPL that fade away with time, but when their shine returns, the entire arena resonates. A similar scene was seen during the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) vs Mumbai Indians (MI) match on Wednesday (20 May 2026) night. KKR’s experienced batsman Manish Pandey gave a very important victory to Kolkata on the basis of his excellent fielding and brilliant batting.
For this strong performance, Manish Pandey was awarded the ‘Player of the Match’ (POTM) award. Manish Pandey ended a long drought by holding this award, but even if he wanted to, he could not break a unique record of former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni.
Honored after 6 years: Pandey’s memorable comeback
It took 2038 days (almost 6 years) for Manish Pandey to win the title of ‘Player of the Match’ again in IPL.
Previous Awards: Before this magical innings against Mumbai Indians, Manish Pandey 20 October 2020 While playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad, he won the ‘Player of the Match’ award against Rajasthan Royals.
Match performance: Manish Pandey batting at number 3 in this ‘do or die’ match against Mumbai Indians. 45 runs in 33 balls (Note: At one place in the text it is 44 and at another place it is 45; according to the official scorecard it is 45 runs). Played a very composed and match-winning innings. Earlier, he also showed great skill in fielding and took a brilliant catch of Ryan Rickelton.
MS Dhoni’s ‘mega-record’ saved from being broken
Manish Pandey’s wait of 2038 days was indeed very long, but the record of having the longest gap between two ‘Player of the Match’ awards in IPL history still holds. Mahendra Singh Dhoni The name is protected.
| player name | Previous POTM Awards | Next POTM Award | Gap of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| MS Dhoni (CSK) | ipl 2019 | ipl 2025 | 2175 days |
| Manish Pandey (KKR) | 20 October 2020 | 20 May 2026 | 2038 days |
After 2019, Dhoni ended his Player of the Match drought by going straight to IPL 2025, between which 2175 days There was a distance of. Manish Pandey has come second in this list.
How was the thrill of the KKR vs Mumbai match?
In this rain-affected match, Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and chose to bowl first and took full advantage of the conditions.
Mumbai innings: In front of the tight bowling of KKR, five-time champion Mumbai Indians lost only 8 wickets in 20 overs. 147 runs Could only make it. Corbin Bosch scored the highest unbeaten 32 runs for MI.
KKR’s embarrassing victory: While chasing the target of 148 runs, KKR also had a wobbly start. But there was a brilliant partnership of 64 runs in 48 balls for the fourth wicket between Manish Pandey (45 runs) and Rovman Powell (40 runs in 30 balls). Thanks to this partnership, KKR achieved the target by losing 6 wickets in 18.5 overs.
Faint hopes of playoff still persist
With this win, KKR has moved up from 8th to 6th in the points table and has 13 points. KKR will now have to pray that Punjab Kings loses their match on Saturday. After this, if Rajasthan Royals team beats Mumbai Indians on Sunday, then Royals will go to the playoffs and KKR will be out. If the equation remains in favor, only then KKR’s last match against Delhi Capitals will matter.
