In their upcoming match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday, April 30, the Gujarat Titans may make one change from their starting line-up since Abhinav Manohar has recently not performed well with the bat.
Despite having a solid start for his IPL 2022 campaign, Manohar has struggled to find runs of late. Against Sunrisers Hyderabad, he was dismissed for a duck. At the same time, in the previous match against the Kolkata Knight Riders, he scored only two runs until the end of the game. He managed to score 12 runs against Chennai Super Kings, but it seems not enough.
When he was given an opportunity in the encounter against Punjab Kings, the 20-year-old from Chennai performed admirably, scoring 35 runs. But he was only able to collect 11 runs in his second encounter against the Sunrisers Hyderabad and was subsequently eliminated from the competition.
Given that he has only scored 14 runs in his last three games, it is highly likely that Abhinav Manohar will be ousted from the competition. However, the big question is who will take his position. Sai Sudharsan appears to be the most viable candidate, as he has demonstrated his ability to achieve results.
Get to know Manohar
Manohar has come a long way in his brief cricketing career, from grabbing a fantastic near boundary catch against KKR to blasting a century in an under 14 tournament.
Manohar hailed from Karnataka and was born in Bengaluru on September 16, 1994. His father owned and operated a footwear store on Commercial Street in Bangalore, next to cricket coach Irfan Sait's clothing store. Manohar's father approached Irfan and requested him to enrol his son in the program to see whether he would be interested in learning the sport. Irfan noted that Manohar lacked great passion but was nonetheless interested in what he was doing. Irfan Sait was Manohar's first coach, and he received a lot of advice from him throughout his early years.
During an Under 14 tournament in 2006, Manohar was struck by a ball and required sutures to his forehead. Despite his injury, Manohar came up to the match the next day and scored a century, which was a turning point in his interest.
His sister is also a professional cricketer who plays for the German national team after formerly representing Karnataka and England.
Career before IPL 2022
On December 19, 2021, Manohar made his career debut for Karnataka against Rajasthan in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, scoring 70 not out. He scored 162 runs in four matches with a strike rate of 150.
According to his coach's input, Manohar was not selected to play for the Karnataka senior team despite constantly performing well for various age groups at the youth level. Nevertheless, he rose to the occasion and, at the age of 27, was selected to play for the senior squad. After impressing in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he was offered a contract in the Indian Premier League.
Manohar has played for several other Indian cricket league teams, including the Bijapur Bulls, Bellary Tuskers, Southern Champs, and Hubli Tigers.
