INTERVIEW
Follow Us“Ben Stokes, sir”.
For someone as soft-spoken and humble as possible, Manvanth Kumar, the 20-year-old up-and-coming all-rounder from Karnataka, idolises the flamboyant English captain.
While their personalities couldn’t be more different, there’s an uncanny similarity in how Manvanth strikes the ball, often evoking comparisons to Stokes. The Karnataka all-rounder instinctively rocks back on his backfoot against spinners, attempting to carve the ball through the midwicket boundary in a style reminiscent of Stokes.
However, it isn’t Stokes’ batting that first caught Manvanth’s attention.
“More than his batting, I love his bowling, I have watched that a lot. He always gives his team the breakthrough, an attitude I love. I like his aggression with the ball, and he is a team player,” Manvanth told Cricket.com in an exclusive conversation.
That isn’t to say Stokes’ solo act of 135 against Australia in Headingley isn’t etched in his imagination.
“I still remember his Headingley knock and how he batted with Jack Leach. I have watched that match a lot of times. I have been inspired by how he handled that situation and the shots that he played,” he added.
Manvanth is cut from the same cloth—not in terms of physique, but in his mental fortitude and ability to excel under pressure. Long before earning accolades in the Maharaja T20 League, a popular tale of him smashing 16 sixes in a single inning catapulted him into the spotlight.
Ironically, Manvanth himself recalls little from that day other than the sheer joy of hitting those 16 sixes. The details of his feat are tucked away on his Instagram profile: a stunning 182 in the SJ Wadiyar Trophy during the 1st Division League in Mysore.
It was a glimpse of what was to come. He doesn’t even know how or when he transforms into a six-hitting machine—it just happens.
“If you put me in the situation, it automatically comes to me. I don’t have any secret, to be honest. I don’t know where the power comes from,” he said.
A few weeks back, though, he had to turn into a hulk for Karnataka in the clash against Odisha when the odds were heavily stacked against him. Another bad knock from there could have dented a growing career. But the clutch situation brought out the best out of him, with 121 runs and nine wickets, earning applause from all quarters.
“I couldn’t score many runs in CK Nayudu Trophy last year, but this year, I was dropped after the first game. When I returned for the fourth game, I scored a hundred [121] and created an impact with the bat. After last year’s batting, I was treating myself as a bowler. That knock actually boosted my confidence,” he recalled what motivated him to score those runs.
Over the last two years, his bowling has turned heads, especially in a tricky league such as the Maharaja T20, where he represents the Hubli Tigers. Since his debut, the 20-year-old has picked up wickets for fun in the league, including scalping 22 wickets in the 2023 edition, the most for any bowler in a single edition.
Throughout his Maharaja T20 career, the Tigers’ bowler has been deployed in the middle overs and at the death, where there’s little margin for error. In these high-pressure moments, his ability to thrive truly stands out, taking 11 wickets at the death with an economy rate of just 7.3.
All he had to say was, ‘I don’t look at the wickets column’.
“I never look at the wickets column; I always look at the runs column; for me, four overs and 24 runs are good figures. More than wickets, I look to contain runs, and that gets me wickets,” Manvanth said.
“I haven’t really worked on a wicket-taking delivery, I have only focused on containing runs, to be very honest. If I go with the mindset of getting wickets, I usually get hit for runs. Whenever I have wished for wickets, I have gone for runs.”
During his stint with the Tigers, Manvanth worked with former Karnataka superstar pacer Vinay Kumar and his captain, Manish Pandey. The 40-year-old took him under his wing and mentored him endlessly through his debut season.
“You won’t get a better mentor than Vinay Kumar. That’s the reality,” Manvanth said. “He’s really experienced, he got the best out of me. I have always worked on variations and knuckleballs but never knew when to use them in a match.”
“That’s where Vinay sir really helped me a lot in terms of where I can bowl variations and how I can set my field during the powerplay. He’s taught me all of that patiently. He also taught me how to handle the pressure, and he’s been a very good mentor.”
Despite such a young T20 career, Manvanth has seen it all. He’s defended 14 runs in the last over of a Maharaja T20 league final, and he’s scored four off the last ball to win a triple super over clash for his team against Bengaluru Blasters as well.
Manvanth was an architect during that clash with a 15-ball 28 in normal time and scalped four wickets with the ball to send the game into super over. After two super overs couldn’t quite separate the side, his long leavers ultimately gave the Tigers a crucial two points over the Blasters.
While most of us dream about hitting the winning runs, Manvath has lived to tell that tale.
“It is still like a dream only. I have visualised that incident a lot, actually. 1 ball, six runs, or 1 ball, four runs, I have visualised this in backyard cricket. It gives me a lot of happiness that I was there to finish the match. I have visualised that I’m winning the game for the team. It is a dream come true moment,” he recalled the famous clash.
“I have a lot of ideas on how to handle pressure situations. I talk to the bowlers and the seniors, and it reduces the pressure on me. I have seen it all now, super over, last over 12 runs, so nothing really pressurises me anymore,” he said.
Tigers’ skipper Pandey has kept things very simple for the 20-year-old.
“Manish Pandey is too good, you ask anyone, they will tell you that he is the best captain,” he said. “He handles pressure situations easily and is quite calm in those situations. It helped me in my debut season. He didn’t put much pressure on me, and even when 12 runs were needed off the last over in the final, he had confidence and calm.”
His consistent performances, whether for the Tigers or Karnataka at the U-23 level, have attracted interest from the different Indian Premier League franchises, including five-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK). But ultimately, when it came to the auction, the Delhi Capitals (DC) side rewarded the youngster with a big paycheque.
“No, DC didn’t really inform me this year. I attended DC’s trials last year; I bowled really well there with knuckleballs and yorkers. I had one or two expensive overs, but still, I bowled well. I took a couple of wickets and executed my variations well, which I think confirmed my selection.”
Manvanth is looking forward to his stint with the Capitals because it will give him a unique opportunity to rub shoulders with Mitchell Starc and KL Rahul.
“I’m really happy to be playing for Delhi Capitals; there are a lot of seniors there, like Mitchell Starc, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Mukesh Kumar. I get to learn a lot from them, where I can better myself and how I can handle situations. I don’t have any expectations. I will do as the team says.”
Whilst DC are yet to confirm their captain, Rahul might get the gig as the leader, which could eliminate the language barrier for Manvanth.
“I have never played alongside Rahul, but a lot of people have told me that he’s a cool captain. He’s very calm and knows Kannada, so communication will be better.”
Surprisingly, the 20-year-old wasn’t the most elated member of his family when he secured that coveted INR 30 lakh contract. The honour belonged to his brother, Hemanth Kumar—a guiding light, mentor, and the architect of his cricketing dreams.
It was Hemanth’s unwavering dedication and tireless efforts, including countless hours of bowling 200-300 deliveries each time Manvanth returned home to Mysore, that shaped the young cricketer into the prodigy he is today.
In a moment of poetic justice, Hemanth’s widespread smile best captured the essence of Manvanth’s remarkable journey—a journey built on love, sacrifice, and shared dreams.
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