He performed brilliantly in the Maharaja T20 Trophy earlier this year.
A Gujarat Titans (GT) player is eyeing a return to his home stadium in M Chinnaswamy Stadium ahead of the next edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The player didn’t get too many opportunities in the three-year cycle, even though he impressed in patches whenever he got a chance to play.
The hard-hitter of GT, Abhinav Manohar plays for Karnataka and recently performed brilliantly in the Maharaja T20 Trophy. However, if the Titans opt to release him ahead of the next season, Manohar wants to play for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the next edition.
In an interview with Wisden, Manohar expressed this wish while showing his regret over not playing in the team whenever GT played in Bengaluru in previous seasons. He also underlined the funny dynamics of IPL auctions, stating he wants to be in a team with opportunities to play.
“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.”
If the Titans want, they can keep Abhinav Manohar as an uncapped player by spending only INR 4 crores ahead of the auction. He is among the finest pace-hitters in the domestic circuit and recently impressed in the Maharaja T20 Trophy, a local Karnataka league.
He was the second-leading run-scorer in the tournament, scoring 550 runs at an average of 78.57 and a whopping strike rate of 194.35 in 11 innings. Further, he also scored six fifties, the most in the competition.
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Manohar will be in high demand if he comes into the auction due to his superior skills and ability to take on the pace at will. Further, he can be flexible with his batting position and bat anywhere in the middle order.
GT didn’t use him wisely in whatever opportunities they gave him; they slotted him in the lower order and used him as a finisher, which might not be the best way to extract the best out of him. If they retain him, GT should ensure to promote him up in the number.
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