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Abhinav Sadarangani: From an unsure kid to Rs 2.6 Cr bid in IPL auction 2022

Abhinav Sadarangani or Abhinav Manohar was grabbed by Gujarat Titans for Rs 2.6 crore in the IPL Auction 2022. He is a hard-hitting batsman from Karnataka. Here's his story.

Abhinav Manohar (Image: Twitter)

Bengaluru, February 13: 'Who is Abhinav Sadarangani?’ It was one of the most searched topics in Google on the first day of the IPL auction 2022. The reason for it was the intense bid for this player by three franchises — Kolkata Knight Riders, Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Titans.

Started off from a base price of Rs 20 lakh, the bid stopped at a whopping Rs 2.6 crore by the Titans, some 13 times more than his asking price.

The name Abhinav Sadarangani, as displayed in the screen inside the auction room, might not have rung a bell, but if mentioned as Abhinav Manohar then lot of us could have identified with the name.

Abhinav had a made a fine impression for Karnataka in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy last year, smoking 162 runs in four matches at a strike-rate hovering over 150.

The effort earned him trial runs with a few IPL teams in the run-up to the auctions and remained as impressive that led to the frenzied bidding for him.

Though, it was not the first time Abhinav made the heads turn as in the Karnataka Premier League (KPL) he had built a reputation for himself as a six-hitter while playing for the Bellary Tuskers.

Irfan Sait, the childhood coach of Abhinav is not surprised at all by the turn of events at the auction. “I first saw him as a nearly six-year-old kid who came to KIOC (Karnataka Institute of Cricket) and wanted to take up cricket. I knew his dad and mother (Manohar Sadrangani and Neetu) as they were running a footwear store in Commercial Street next to our women’s garment shop. At first, he remained a bit scared to face the ball but as he became familiar with the sport, he became more confident of himself as a player,” says Irfan.

Irfan remembers Sharanya Sadrangani, Abhinav’s first cousin, too used to accompany him to the KIOC centre. “They used to come and train together. Later, Sharanya moved to England, and got some experience playing in the county circuit. Now she is playing for Germany national team,” says Irfan.

Everyone needs a turning point in life to climb bigger steps and for Abhinav it came in an under-14 match against a visiting Hyderabad side.

“Those days Arshad Ayub (former India spinner), used to send under-14 Hyderabad side (development squad) to Bangalore for gaining experience. In one match, he got hit on the forehead and was bleeding. But in the next match, he made a cracking hundred and it told me that this boy has attitude for cricket,” he says.

It facilitated his entry into the Karnataka Under-14 side. “After that he had lost his way a bit. Karnataka had several top-notch players and Abhinav too was told to tighten his defence. But he worked on his game at the club level for Swastik Union (2) and Cambridge. It was him helped Swastik to get promotion to First Division with a series of good knocks,” says Irfan.

“Gujarat is a new team and hopefully, he will get a few chances there to show his skills. In the SMA Trophy also he helped Karnataka to wriggle out of some tight spaces like that fifty (49-ball 70) against Saurashtra. Hopefully, the IPL 2022 will offer him further steps to grow,” he said.

Story first published: Sunday, February 13, 2022, 17:02 [IST]
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