As talk over IPL retentions heats up ahead of the franchises' deadline on October 31, one player sure to be on the radar of several teams is Karnataka's Abhinav Manohar. Coming off a barnstoming season in the Maharaja T20 Trophy, he sat down with Rahul Iyer to talk about his performances, his dream of representing India, and more.
“I know I'm just one or two good IPL seasons away from breaking into at least the India ‘A’, or Indian side".
Abhinav Manohar understands the power of waiting. He’s 30 years old, yet to play first-class cricket, and hadn’t broken into the Karnataka senior squad until three years ago. And yet, he’s one of the uncapped players who’ll be eagerly debated over ahead of the IPL mega-auction.
Manohar is with Gujarat Titans, but with only six retentions per team, a spot isn’t guaranteed: he managed just two appearances this year.
Between the IPL and next season’s player auction, though, Manohar has been making all the right noises. At the Maharaja T20 Trophy, a local T20 competition in his home state, he finished as the second-highest run-scorer, hitting a mind-boggling 52 sixes in 10 matches along the way.
In an exclusive chat with Wisden.com, he talks about his cricketing journey so far, how he unlocked another batting gear, and his ambitions of representing India.
The domestic cricket breakthrough, and changing perceptions
Manohar recently turned 30, but his top-level career is still in its early stages. He represented Karnataka at the U13, U19, U22 and U25 levels, but did not break into the senior squad until he was 27. Even now, he has only played limited-overs cricket for the state.
He puts this down to Karnataka’s brimming talent pool, especially in the batting department, when he was coming through. “At that point it was really tough, because most of the senior bunch [KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Karun Nair, etc] were playing for India, and when they were free, they were playing for the state,” Manohar says.
“It was a bit disappointing after the age group cricket. I did lose heart for a bit, and I had plans of changing states or moving abroad and playing.”
The breakthrough came after the Covid-19-enforced lockdown, when he decided to clear his mind, and stop worrying about proving a point or playing to get selected: “I just played to have fun, and worked on my fitness as well. And then, eventually my stars changed, and it all paid off.”
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Not only did it all pay off, but it did so in spectacular fashion. On debut in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy pre-quarterfinal against Saurashtra, Manohar walked to the crease in the sixth over with Karnataka at 34-3 in pursuit of 146.
He slammed an unbeaten 70 off 49 balls, containing six sixes and just two fours, to help his side over the line. Only two other batters on his team reached double figures, and the next highest score was 33. Later that year, he earned his first IPL contract with Gujarat Titans, and has gradually become a fixture in the Karnataka white-ball setup.
Despite his big-hitting exploits, though, Manohar is not the biggest fan of his reputation as a ‘finisher’ in T20 cricket: “Over the past two years, I have been going to the [state] selectors and actually asking them almost once in two months, ‘Please give me a chance in red-ball,’ because I know I can make a difference.
“I want to change everybody's mindset, and say that I'm not only a finisher. I can bat in the top order and middle order as well, and actually bat anywhere throughout the 20 overs. And the same thing for the red ball as well, I want to show that I can play that long innings and get my runs.”
His persistence and performances were both rewarded. On October 21, he was named in Karnataka’s Ranji Trophy squad for the team’s third match of the season against Bihar.
Preparing for the season: Going back to basics, and hitting 150 sixes a day
Manohar’s success in the Maharaja Trophy was not without warning. Across his last two seasons in the competition he had scored 610 runs at a strike rate in excess of 150, with 43 sixes.
In 2024, he more or less matched those numbers in a single season, but this levelling-up didn’t just happen overnight.
“After the IPL, I took a break because I wanted that time to reset,” he says. “But then after that, I went back to my coach. I went back to the absolute basics, and tried to change a few things which didn't feel comfortable for me or which didn't seem right.
“Each session, I tend to play about 500 balls in which I hit about 150 sixes. So that has kind of helped me, made me believe more in my shots, that I can clear the boundaries. I always knew I had the power, but this year I knew that I practised this particular shot and I can just back myself in a game and hit it.”
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Manohar credits Mithun Manhas, the batting coach at Gujarat Titans, for working with him in the off-season on the technical aspect of his game. Childhood coach Sudhindra Shinde has also played an important role in keeping him on an emotionally level plane, while constantly boosting his confidence. But special praise is reserved for the lesser-known Nazim Bhati at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
“Nazim Bhati is the guy who actually deserves half of my success,” Manohar says. “Because he's the one who helps me in practice every day. He throws sidearm to me, underarm, drills and all of it.
“At three o'clock, if I give him a call and ask, ‘Are you coming for practice?’, he'll say, ‘Yeah, I'm there. If you want to practice for the next three hours, I'm there. I'll throw for you for three hours with a smile on my face.’ That’s something that I really like about him.”
Learning from senior players in the IPL
After being picked up in 2022, Manohar played 17 IPL matches across two seasons, before featuring just twice this year for GT.
He does not blame the team, which is filled with players who excel in his role, but instead vows that the next time around, whether at the Titans or elsewhere, “I shouldn't give them an option to not pick me. I should always be their first option.”
His recent performances should serve as a reminder of his ability. They may even lead to a retention by the franchise Manohar says is like family to him, and would be a dream to return to for the upcoming season.
But beyond getting along well with his GT teammates, he says he has learnt a lot about the mental side of the game from the domestic as well as international stalwarts in the side, picking out two examples: “I've always heard Rahul Tewatia back himself and in any situation, he'll go there and be like, I can do it.
“I'm trying to actually change my mindset to try and think like that, and try and back myself a little bit more, because that's something I don't do too often, and something I can get better at.
“Another is, I remember one game, David [Miller] got run out, or he threw his wicket in a very bad way, but then he came back to the dressing room, and he was so pissed off about that that he actually went out there and made a difference while fielding.
“You can see that if it's not with the bat, they want to just contribute in whatever way possible. If you don't have a good day in batting, you can put that aside and try and give your best while fielding as well. So these small pointers are what I try to pick up from them.”
Manohar: It would be nice to play for RCB
If Manohar is not retained by the Titans, and ends up entering this year’s IPL mega auction, there is sure to be competition for his services. Understandably, one team looms large in this regard – his hometown franchise, Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
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Manoj Bhandage and Vyshak Vijaykumar are among the Karnataka and/or Maharaja Trophy performers the franchise has signed in recent years, and RCB head of scouting Malolan Rangarajan has been spotted at the Chinnaswamy this season.
Manohar loves playing at the ground, but remains tight-lipped on whether representing RCB is actively a career aspiration for him.
“Being a Bangalore boy, it would be nice to play for RCB. Over the past few years, we (GT) have played in Bangalore, but I haven't got a chance to play, and I really wish that I had played, because I think I know this wicket pretty well, and it is a batting track, and it would be any batsman's dream to play in Bangalore in the IPL because six-hitting is very easy, the ground is pretty small.
“I feel it would be great to play for your home side as well. Let's see. I mean, auction dynamics are very funny, and you don't know which team you're going to go to. So I’m just hoping I get to go to a team which I get to play for, that’s all.”
“I’m just one or two good IPL seasons away from the Indian side”
As important as franchise leagues are to professional cricketers in India, the majority of them still view representing their country as the ultimate goal – and Manohar is no different.
There are very few in the country who can match him for sheer ball-striking power, which gives him an edge in a packed field of gifted batters. He is confident that putting in the level of work he has for a little while longer could bear fruit.
“I know that I'm just one or two good IPL seasons away from breaking into at least the India ‘A’, or Indian side,” he says. “So my goal is to just work hard and take it one game at a time. If I think too much into the future, I tend to overthink and try and become too eager and desperate.
“But yes, the dream would be, obviously, to play for India. I mean, growing up as a kid, you want to wear that blue jersey. So I'm hoping for a good IPL season this year and next year, and I'm just hoping to break into the side.”
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