Abhinav Manohar turned out to be the star for Gujarat Titans in their handsome win of 55 runs against Mumbai Indians in the 35th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The man smashed 42 runs off just 21 balls with three fours and as many sixes to leave MI bowlers hapless in the death overs. Thanks to his knock, GT were able to add 77 runs off the last five overs and that turned the game on its head.
For the unversed, Abhinav Manohar was picked up by Gujarat Titans for INR 2.8 crore in the IPL 2022 mega auction. Thanks to his impressive show, the franchise retained him for the same amount. Abhinav is from Bangalore, Karnataka and was born September 16, 1994. The batting all-rounder made his List A and T20 debut in November-December 2021. In 24 T20 matches, the 28-year-old has scored 488 runs at a brilliant strike rate of 160.52 and his best score of 70* proves the man can play a long innings as well.
Abhinav Manohar comes from a humble background and after the IPL 2022 mega auction, his coach Irfan Sait had revealed that the cricketer's father had a shop of shoes. It was Abhinav's father's decision to take his son to the cricket academy and this is where his life changed. Perhaps, Abhinav Manohar Sadarangani had suffered a head injury as well but the fighter that he is, he recovered from that injury and is now shining in IPL as well.
Thanks to his excellent show in the game against MI, he won the Player of the Match award as well. "Lucky to be in this franchise. We get to bat for as long as we want in the net sessions here. I practice a lot and have a lot of self belief because of it. That's paying off. I've been gifted to time the bowl well and have been doing it since a young age, to do it at this level feels like a dream. This game I couldn't start going from ball one because of the situation, but it was good to get my eye in and play my game," Abhinav said after the match.
