In search of a second win of the season, Sunrisers Hyderabad opted to bowl first against Gujarat Titans at the DY Patil Sports Academy and posted 163 runs in 20 overs. Gujarat lost their last game’s hero Shubman Gill on just seven runs and the further dismissal of Sai Sudharsan and Matthew Wade added to their woes.
IPL debutant Abhinav Manohar
But one player from Hardik Pandya’s camp had all the luck tonight. IPL debutant Abhinav Manohar, who scored 35 runs from 21 balls against SRH and survived three dropped chances, credits his sheer luck, whose riddance gave a huge sigh of relief to the opponent. Karnataka’s hard-hitting middle-order batter was lucky enough as he was first dropped by Aiden Markram. Another lease of life came when he was again dropped by Rahul Tripathi at long-off again.
However, SRH got rid of Manohar after Rahul Tripathi finally managed to pluck a difficult catch and Bhuvneshwar Kumar got the wicket. He departed after adding 50 runs to the scoreboard with the GT skipper Hardik Pandya.
“The stars were in the right place today. I got three chances, but I should have carried it on. I won’t get these many lives every day. We looked to play till the 17th over and then go after it. He was set, so I decided to go after,” Manohar said.
GT received a big jolt when Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed Shubman Gill early. Sai Sudharsan (11) and Matthew Wade (19) were sent back by T Natarajan and Umran Malik, respectively. Marco Jansen got rid of David Miller rattling the team further.
Manohar was picked up by Gujarat for Rs 2.6 crores and has played crucial knocks for his home team in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2021. Known for his power game, Manohar hit back-to-back fours in a clash with Lucknow Super Giants at the Wankhede stadium last week and ensured a comfortable victory by five wickets.
Manohar feels that getting three chances is something he won’t get again and again. He further added that he and Pandya tried to play till the 17th over and then would proceed for bowling. An unbeaten 50 from Pandya and 35 from Manohar took GT to 162/7 against SRH.
“The pitch is good but they have a good pace attack and it all depends on the powerplay,” he added.
Pandya had heaped praise on the young player and said, ” Manohar is someone to look at with the talent he has. You would hear a lot more about Abhinav Manohar in the future.”
The entire episode sparked a meme fest on Twitter with people lauding Manohar’s luck.
Gujarat Titans will face Rajasthan Royals on April 14 at Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai.
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