Abhinav Manohar, the six-raining middle-order marauder

Bengaluru: Anyone can entertain the idea of hitting a six at the M Chinnaswamy stadium because it has one of the smallest boundaries in world cricket.

When you’re 12-years-old, though, clearing the thirty-yard circle is a task, let alone going over the fence.

This is when, and why, Abhinav Manohar knew he was destined to become a big hitter. Now, all of 29-years-old, Manohar is a middle-order marauder, and he is on a mission.

Shivamogga Lions’ Manohar was the second-highest run-scorer at the recently concluded Maharaja Trophy behind Karun Nair. He had 507 runs at an average of 84.50 and a strike rate of 196.51.

But, here’s the part that stands out, Manohar struck 52 sixes during 10 games of his team’s campaign. In that same duration, he struck a mere eleven fours coming in mostly at No 5. In contrast, Karun scored 58 fours and 30 sixes coming in at No 3. 

While the positions do alter the approach, it doesn’t detract from Manohar’s ability to go hard from the get-go.

In fact, a couple of days after his six-hitting spree at the Maharaja ended, he took to belting those big hits in the Dr Capt K Thimmappiah Memorial tournament where he scored 121 and 64 runs in two innings, including a total of 13 sixes for KSCA President’s XI.

“After the IPL (Indian Premier League), I did change things quite a bit,” Manohar tells DH. “I went to Sudhinder Shinde sir, and since he has coached me since I was a 10-year-old, I was able to figure things out with him. Basically, I changed my set-up and my back-lift a bit. I went back to the basics, I hadn’t done that for a few years, and I realised a more side-on setup works better for me.”

While a tweak in technique has, obviously, helped Manohar elevate his game, he reveals that his mindset too needed rewiring.

The problem, especially with batters who have a reputation for hitting big, is they tend to overhit the ball instead of trusting their timing to do the work for them. Manohar admits that he found it hard to stay in the box, but with time, he has understood that ‘staying in the box’ is exactly why he can hit the kind of sixes he does.

“I try not to think of too many things, firstly,” he says. “Also, the focus these days is to not overhit the ball. In the last Maharaja Trophy, I tried hitting the ball hard and I didn’t do too well. This time, I was focussed on reacting to the ball and clearing the fence. I back myself to clear it every single time the ball is in my slot.”

While Manohar has had this attitude even before he made his List A debut for Karnataka a couple of seasons ago, there is an evident evolution to his craft. It is the one he wants to put to use in the IPL. Before all that, however, he wants to use this ‘gift’ at the first-class level for Karnataka.

“I have spoken to the selectors and I have conveyed to them that I can make a difference to the side in red-ball cricket,” he says. “I can play the role Rishabh (Pant) plays for India. I also told them to not brand me a white-ball player because I can transfer these big-hitting skills to the longer format. I will not change my game according to the format because I see that the long format utilises players with my kind of skills these days.”

What Manohar is referring to is this spike in strike rates in first-class cricket over the last five or so years. “I have noticed this trend in Tests and in first-class cricket so they have to pick me right? (laughs). I think the world is changing its mindset towards how red-ball cricket is played so I hope I get a look this year, and I want to score my first Ranji Trophy hundred.”

“After that, we’ll see. There are still a lot of sixes to be hit,” he laughs, again.