Signed by Panhala Panthers for a fee of Rs.63,000, Manish Desai led the Panhala Panthers in MPL 2009. He failed to deliver with the bat in the first season, but bowled well to pick-up seven wickets at with his right-arm medium pace at an impressive average of 16.29. Without the burden of being the skipper, he batted a bit better in season-II, with a highest of 25 against coming against Shivneri Lions. He played as a pure batsman in MPL-II, and it would be interesting to see how is experience would be used by the Panthers in MPL-III.