Manan Vohra has everything an opener should possess

Zee Media Bureau/Chaitan Papnai New Delhi: Manan Vohra was the only Indian cricketer retained by Kings XI Punjab this season along with South African David Miller. Surprisingly, he didn`t get a chance to feature in the first nine matches that KXIP played. But once he got the golden opportunity, he grabbed it with both hands. In his first match against Sunrisers Hyderabad he played a cracking knock but missed his fifty by just three runs. Even after warming the bench for nine matches he didn`t look rusty at all and middled almost every delivery he faced from the word go. The 20-year-old, didn`t look back after that and went on to play a decent knock in almost every match. The Punjab batsman scored 324 runs in the eight matches he played this season. The opener saved his best for the last, when he smashed his highest score of the tournament in the final against Kolkata Knight Riders. Vohra`s 67-run knock in the final came at a crucial time for his team as they lost their two big wickets in Virender Sehwag and skipper George Bailey within 30 runs, after being invited to bat. Even after having swashbuckling players like Glenn Maxwell, David Miller, Sehwag and George Bailey in his team, Vohra made a name for himself with his notable performances. Vohra has wide range of shots but his USP is that he picks the length of the ball early, which helps him to get underneath it and dispatch it anywhere he wants to. Though these are still early days of his cricketing career, one thing that he surely needs to learn quickly is the art of converting starts into big scores.