One of the brightest young talents of Indian cricket, Manan Vohra has been a consistent performer in the Indian Premier League (IPL) too. He has let the willow do the talking—season after season!
There hasn’t been an exception this time either. Playing a gritty knock of 95 against a stronger Sunrisers Hyderabad, Vohra has impressed for the Kings XI Punjab, a side which is again failing to deliver to its potential.
But it could have been all so different for the 23-year-old. He was selected for the U-19 World Cup a few years back, but then fractured his thumb on the eve of the tournament. It was Indian batsman and his Punjab team-mate Yuvraj Singh who helped him get his career back on track. “I am very close to Yuvraj, he helped me a lot with my game. After the injury, he helped me stay motivated and also keep my focus on the game,” Vohra tells Sportstar during an interaction.
Yuvraj had also vouched for the youngster last season after Punjab selectors questioned his position in the team. Vohra ended up scoring 673 runs, including a double hundred against Baroda.
In the form of Virender Sehwag, Vohra also has a coach who had a similarly aggressive style of playing. “He has told me to settle in and play at least six overs before going all out for my shots,” says Vohra, commenting on Sehwag's advice to him as a coach.
Vohra might be an IPL star, but his priorities are quite clear. “Dream is to obviously play for India someday, but right now I want to focus just on playing well for Punjab,” he adds.
The youngster also sounds confident of Kings XI’s chances of making the top-four this season. Ask him and he says, that the team is playing good cricket and that the results will follow. “The mood in the camp is quite good, and now we will be playing in Mohali, which will be special, in the last three matches we have been playing good cricket and hopefully the results will change here.”
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