Aryaveer Kohli, 15, in no mood to emulate uncle Virat’s batting feats

The famous Kohli surname is doing the rounds in Delhi’s cricketing circles again. However, Aryaveer Kohli, the 15-year-old nephew of Virat has no intention of matching his illustrious uncle’s batting records -  but wants to shine as a leg spinner in his first season of Delhi Premier League (DPL).

 It was earlier this month when Aryaveer, son of the former India captain’s elder brother Vikas, grabbed the eyeballs when he was picked up by South Delhi Superstarz (SDS) for Rs one lakh at the auction for the upcoming T20 franchise league. Incidentally, another teenager with the same name albeit with a different spelling – Virender Sehwag’s son Aryavir went for an impressive Rs 8 lakh in the auction to Central Delhi Kings.

 A video clip of PTI, which shows Aryaveer bowling at the nets of West Delhi Cricket Academy, has gone viral. It’s the same nursery where Virat’s journey began as a 10-year-old under Dronacharya awardee coach Raj Kumar Sharma. Practising his craft under Sarandeep Singh, former India

offspinner and national selector, Aryaveer has been impressive – though he has to be the likely understudy of Digvesh Rathi, one of the IPL finds this year and a part of SDS.

Speaking to the media, Sarandeep feels that Aryaveer carries no burden of his famous surname. “Aryaveer Kohli is quite young. There is no baggage of the surname on the young lad. He’s a really good and talented kid and he has been practising and putting in the hard work,’’ Sarandeep revealed.

 Apart from Rathi, who is one of the highest paid players of the DPL at Rs 38 lakhs, Aryaveer will also share the dressing room with IPL’s standout opener Priyansh Arya. The latter played a key role in his debut season as opener in Punjab Kings’ progress to the IPL final after 11 years.

 Aaryavir, Sehwag’s elder son who is already a part of the Delhi Under-19 team, is a batter and will have to get used to comparisons. The second edition of DPL, a eight-team affair, will get underway from August 2 with a number of big names of Indian cricket registered as players: namely Rishabh Pant (Purani Dilli 6), Harshit Rana (North Delhi Strikers), Ayush Badoni (South Delhi Superstarz).