Vihaan Malhotra celebrates after scoring his century; Manoj Malhotra and Dr Poonam Malhotra, parents of Indian U19 batsman Vihaan Malhotra, pose with their son's trophies at their Patiala residence. (Express Photo by Harmeet Sodhi)
Before Vihaan Malhotra broke the back of Zimbabwe’s bowlers, en route to a stroke-filled hundred in the U-19 World Cup, he used to shatter fans and tube lights of his home as well as mirrors in his mother Dr Poonam’s private clinic. “Sometimes, he broke the fan or tube lights. Once, he broke the mirrors in his mother’s private clinic,” says his father Manoj, a Superintending Engineer in the Punjab Department of Water Supply and Sanitation, based in Patiala.
The hundred reminded Punjab U-19 coach Ranveet Ricky of his former teammate Yuvraj Singh, especially the cover-driving; the father’s memory rolled back to the numerous evenings Vihaan waited for him when he returned home from work. “He would be waiting for me to bowl in our drawing room. I would be tired and bowl sitting from the bed or couch,” he remembers.
The stylish left-hander’s life revolved around cricket. During free time, he watched Virat Kohli’s videos on loop. “I am sure this hundred will remind him of how his idol had guided India to the title in 2008,” he says.
Coach Kamal Sandhu with Vihaan Malhotra. (Special Arrangement)
Seeing his interest in the game, and partly to stop the wreckage at home, they enrolled him at the Black Elephant Cricket Club before he joined Cricket Hub Patiala in 2019. Coach Kamal Sidhu recalls the early tweaks he made to his game: “We worked on rectifying his front foot going across as well as making his head still. He became confident playing vertical shots. As he grew, we worked on his bottom hand movement to add the horizontal shots.”
The hard work bore fruits. Three years later, he amassed 978 runs at 81.50 in the Vijay Merchant Trophy. The icing on the cake was a 230 against Mumbai. “After the double hundred against Mumbai, the Mumbai coach took him to his team and told them how Vihaan scored a double hundred relying on ground shots,” says Ricky, one of the mainstays of the 2000 U-19 World Cup triumph.
Ricky also remembers a Vinoo Mankad Trophy match, where he shepherded the lower order against Chandigarh as he performed against Zimbabwe. “Punjab were 190 something for 9 with Vihaan closing in on his hundred in reply to Chandigarh’s first innings total of nearly 300. Vihaan scored 190 runs to take Punjab close to Chandigarh total. We won the match. As Vihaan remained unbeaten today, it reminded me of that match,” he says.
Smooth operator
TL;DR: Last year, Vihaan scored 277 runs in two Youth Tests including a knock of 120 runs at Chelmsford in the second Youth Test.
Last year, Vihaan scored 277 runs in two Youth Tests including a knock of 120 runs at Chelmsford in the second Youth Test. He scored 243 runs in five Youth ODIs including a hundred in the fourth Youth ODI at Worcester too. Behind the runs was sheer hard work. Coach Sandhu remembers his preparations before tournaments. “We made him face under-arm throws as well as face side-arm bowlers in open nets to improve his pull shots. He displayed that in England. For the U-19 World Cup, we knew that the pitches would offer bounce. So we worked the same,” says Sandhu.
During the England tour, Vihaan was sad that he fell in 40s twice. He dialled Ricky’s advice. “I would always tell him that he can take his time to settle in as he has the shots to take advantage later. During the England tour, he also watched the Manchester Test where Shubman Gill scored a hundred. He would tell me how Shubman relied on his strengths and I told him to rely on the same, horizontal shots like pull as well as cover drive. He also understands his strengths and relies on them in tough situations too, he did today,” remembers Ricky.
Before his hundred, he had chipped in with a four-wicket haul against Bangladesh in a tense match. Coach Sandhu dwells on this dimension: “When Vihaan started playing at the district level, I knew I had to make him bowl too. When asked to bowl off-spin, I observed how he got revolutions, using his index finger. Then we worked on his grip by making him bowl from a short distance as well as bowling with a hurdle.”
In between, Royal Challengers Bengaluru acquired him for Rs 30 lakh in the mini auction. “As a kid, he watched Virat bat in Mohali stadium in the IPL. If he gets to bat along with Kohli, it will be a special moment for him,” says Manoj. Before this, he could become a U-19n World Cup hero like his idol too.
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Curated by James Chen
