Manish Raj Pandey (; born 5 December 1970) is a Nepalese conservationist, cricket administrator and former

cricketer Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

. He is the president of the Cricket Players' Association Nepal since 2018 and president of the Bhaktapur District Cricket Association since August 2023. All-rounder Pandey played as a right-handed opening batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler. He made his debut for

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

against

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

in September 1996.

Playing career

Born in

Biratnagar Biratnagar () is a metropolitan city in Nepal, which serves as the capital of Province No. 1. With a population of 242,548 as per the 2011 census, it is the largest city in the province and also the headquarters of Morang district. As per the p ...

, Pandey actively participated in national level cricket championships as a regular player representing

Koshi zone Kosi or Koshi ( ne, कोसी अञ्चल, ne, :ne:कोशी अञ्चल, कोशी अञ्चल ) was one of the fourteen List of zones of Nepal, zones of Nepal until the restructure of zones to Provinces of Nepal, provinces ...

and Morang district from 1988 to 2000. He also successfully led Morang district and Youth Cricket Club, Biratnagar teams as a captain. Pandey was part of the playing XI in Nepal's first ever official international match during the 1996 Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Trophy in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

, against Bangladesh, on 6 September 1996. Nepal finished fourth out of six teams in their first round group in this competition, beating

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

. Pandey, with his opening partner Pawan Agarwal at the other end, faced Nepal's first ever delivery in international cricket. He took one wicket, returning figures of 1/31 in 8 overs in his debut match and scored 13 runs including the first ever six hit by a Nepalese batsman, with a flick over deep backward square leg. Pandey became the first ever Nepalese cricketer to receive a player of the match award in an international cricket match, when he hit 27 runs and took 1 wicket against Japan on 7 September 1996. His best bowling performance was 3/22 against Brunei on 11 September 1996. He took 5 wickets during the 1996 ACC Trophy.

Post-playing career

Pandey currently serves as the president of the Cricket Players' Association Nepal (CPAN) since March 2018. On 10 August 2023, he was elected president of the Bhaktapur District Cricket Association. Outside cricket, Pandey works as a conservationist with the

National Trust for Nature Conservation The National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), () previously known as King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation is a Nepalese non-governmental organization working in the field of nature conservation. History It was established in 1982 as ...

, where he heads the Department of Climate Change and Knowledge Management. He also holds a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

degree in Natural Science.

References

Pandey, Manish Raj Pandey, Manish Raj Pandey, Manish Raj Pandey, Manish Raj {{DEFAULTSORT:Pandey, Manish Raj