When Yuvraj and Warner made a sweet gesture for Manan Vohra

The champions of the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League continue their good form in this season as well, they’ve won 3 of their 5 games so far, with the one against Kings Punjab being a thriller. A total of 159 by Hyderabad against Punjab, was not a modest total by any means. Hashim Amla and youngster Manan Vohra began the chase to the small target. But it was the night of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, who dismissed Amla in the very first ball, but Vohra looked eager to score more runs. Vohra batted throughout Punjab’s inning, but kept losing his second fiddles at regular intervals. But he was unaffected by the loss of wickets, and continue his onslaught.

When 18 runs were needed from the last 3 overs, and then 16 from the last two, the Chandigarh batsman was batting on 95, when Kumar finally sent him back with an LBW.

When Punjab was at 145, Manan had to depart 5 runs short of a century. His stay at the crease was lighted up by five sixes and nine fours, which is his highest score in the shortest format.

Sunrisers were aware that Vohra’s dismissal meant they had won the game. But as a mark of gesture, and appreciation for the youngster’s grit, skipper David Warner and middle order batsman Yuvraj Singh walked up to Vohra and congratulated him on his innings.

Kings XI went on to lose the game by 5 runs with exceptional bowling by Bhuvneshwar Kumar being who won the man of the match award. But, Punjab captain Glenn Maxwell was all praise for Manan in the post-match ceremony.

“It was an outstanding game, made by a great innings by Vohra. Unfortunately, he didn’t have help from the rest of us. To play an innings like that in a losing cause is criminal. He’s a superstar. A big score like that was around the corner for him.” Maxwell told.

Such performances by India’s domestic youngsters is a prove that when it comes to the bench strength, no cricketing nation has got it better than India.