New Delhi: Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday became only the third player to include Manish Pandey in the playing XI for their IPL 2026 game against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Virat Kohli And Rohit Sharma will feature in at least one match in all 19 seasons of the Indian Premier League (IPL).The 36-year-old replaced Ramandeep Singh in the KKR XI for his ninth match of the season. He was bought in the auction for Rs 75 lakh and had not played in the previous season.
Pandey was selected as captain ahead of young players like Tejashwi Dahiya and Sarathik Ranjan. Ajinkya Rahane Opting for experience after Ramandeep’s low score. This was Pandey’s first match at the top level after last year’s IPL. He was not selected by Karnataka for the 2025–26 domestic season.MS Dhoni, who is 44, could also join the list if he plays for Chennai Super Kings this season, but he has not played so far due to a shin injury.Appearing in at least one game in each of the 19 seasons on the IPL
- Virat Kohli
- Rohit Sharma
- Manish Pandey
Pandey started his IPL career in 2008 with Mumbai Indians. He later moved to Royal Challengers Bangalore, where he became the first Indian to score a century in the league in 2009. Then in 2010 he joined Pune Warriors India and played there for four seasons.His most notable season came with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2014, when he was part of their title-winning campaign under Gautam Gambhir. He scored 400 runs in a season for the first time in the same year.He spent four seasons with KKR before moving to Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2018. He later played for Lucknow Supergiants in 2022 and Delhi Capitals in 2023 before returning to KKR in 2024. He played one match in KKR’s title-winning season and three last year.KKR, who had won their last two matches, also brought back Finn Allen, giving the opener another chance after a low-scoring streak earlier in the season.Sunrisers Hyderabad were without all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy who was rested due to illness. They included Harshal Patel and gave an opportunity to Karnataka player Simran Ravichandran.
