Manan Vohra is one of the young domestic cricketers graduating from junior cricket into the senior league along with a few other who have been making waves for at least a season or two. Having got the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the legends of the game the youngsters are eager to make most of it. They are in awe of their idols and starry eyed and at the same time keen to absorb whatever they can. Vohra is no exception.
He comes across as a precocious youngster who is glad to get the chance that he has got. Part of the King XI Punjab team the top-order batsman, Vohra has already impressed skipper Adam Gilchrist. And the 19-year old, who is a aggressive batsman by his own admission is not afraid to go over the top is learning to channelise himself in the right direction with guidance from the one man who has single handedly taken apart attacks in his hey days.
“I learn from him in the practice session, how you should hit or (more importantly) when you should hit which is the main part.”
“It is an awesome feeling for me (to be part of KXIP). I am learning a lot from these guys (some who are legends already) and they are very motivating. Everyone gels well together and there is no distinction between the youngsters and the seniors, it is one team that’s it,” he said.
“I have been learning more about the mental aspect from these players and how to handle the (different) situations,” he replied when asked about what he has been learning from the experienced campaigners in his squad.
Although he didn’t score many runs and ended up on the losing side in the contest against the Chennai Super Kings, Vohra had played a match winning knock on debut in the previous match, against the Pune Warriors India.
Reflecting on the loss, Vohra said, “I think we should have scored some more runs. It was good batting track and we scored really less runs. The plan was to bowl in the good areas. They were really good, we also bowled well but they were exceptional today.”
“A total of 180 was needed here (to defend). The ball was coming on to the bat really well, but hard luck. We will keep improving in the other games.”
Wickets had fallen in a cluster towards the end of the KXIP innings and when asked about what went wrong, he said, “Don’t know. We were playing well. But when David Hussey got out, a couple of bad shots made it happen (that way).”
With still a long way to go in the tournament the youngster is glad to have had the opportunity and is looking forward to the rest of the season. “It was a good feeling for me obviously. I really never expected a lot of things. For me what matters is just to play match to match and win as many games for my team as I can. Now let’s see how it goes. It has started well (for me),” he said.
Speaking about the platform that IPL has presented to young players, he observed, “This is one of the main platforms. If you perform well on this circuit you get good chances at the international level. So I think it is a good chance for the Under-19 players.”
Asked about the captain’s advice to him, he said, “I have been training under him (Gilchrist) for two years. He says you are a champion, go out there and enjoy your game you will do well obviously.”
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