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Manan Vohra astonishes one and all
By B Dixit - Apr 18, 2017 9:37 am
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For people who saw this batsman since his U-19 days were aware of the talent he possessed. Manan Vohra has represented India U-19 in the past and has been a regular in the Punjab Ranji Trophy Team from the past six years. To display an innings as impressive as the one he played yesterday was long awaited. But all good things take time. Don’t they?

Manan Vohra made his IPL debut in 2013. Having scored 43* (28) to successfully chase down a paltry target of 100 against Pune Warriors India, he was declared the Man-of-the-Match. In what was his first appearance on the big stage, Vohra made a point that he was here to stay.

Another of his sparkling innings came against Kolkata Knight Riders in the final of IPL 2014 when he scored 67 (52), albeit in a losing cause. Been through the ups and downs of competitive cricket, Vohra perhaps played a career-defining innings yesterday. Having opened the batting with Hashim Amla, Vohra saw his opening partner trapped in front of the stumps on the first delivery itself. If this was not enough, Kings XI Punjab lost half it’s side at the halfway mark.

Further needing 98 runs from 10 overs, a big task lied ahead of Vohra and Axar Patel. When Patel was dismissed in the 14th over, Punjab still needed 76 runs in six overs to win. In the following over, Vohra completed his third IPL half-century. After scoring a majority of the runs in Punjab’s innings, Vohra was the lone obstruction between a victory and Sun Risers Hyderabad.

The equation was brought down to 16 runs off 12 balls but an in-form Bhuvneshwar Kumar found Vohra wanting in front of the stumps to finish an innings which will go down as one of the best innings of IPL 2017. Vohra scored a valiant 95 (50) with the help of nine fours and five sixes.

An innings full of grit and determination on a pitch where others found life to be difficult saw the opposition captain in David Warner coming all the way to Vohra for some words of appreciation. Vohra, who has shared the Punjab dressing room with Yuvraj Singh, also saw the senior southpaw congratulating him for his efforts. Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi too applauded the youngster. Moments like these define the game of cricket. It was another moment which was exemplary of the vision of the Fairplay Award – Play Hard, Play Fair!

Vohra’s innings was appreciated on Twitter as well:

https://twitter.com/PunjabIPL/status/854037172025827328

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