Three days before the IPL 2026 player auctions, a video of Aman Rao taking on Shardul Thakur went viral. In a modest chase of 132 against Mumbai in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20s, he cracked three boundaries and two sixes in the first over, delivered by Thakur, as they chased the total in 11.5 overs. Aman stayed unbeaten on 52. More than the runs, the shots caught everyone’s attention.
On Wednesday, another video of his began getting viral. This was his unbeaten 200 in the Vijay Hazare Trophy against a Bengal attack that included Mohammed Shami, Akash Deep, Mukesh Kumar, Shahbaz Ahmed.
The shots stood out again. All were from the textbook, sound in technique, elegant and with the characteristic richness of the Hyderabad school of batting, that the world marvelled in Mohammed Azharuddin and VVS Laxman. The 21-year-old made jaws drop, like his lofty predecessors.
WATCH: Aman Rao batting
A fabulous double century! 💯💯
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Standing tall, he got off the mark with a straight drive with a high elbow before making good use of those ultra flexible, rubbery wrists to time three more boundaries. In a 200 that included 12 boundaries and 13 sixes, it was hard to pick the most aesthetic one. Despite growing up in the age of T20s, he doesn’t slog like his peers. If he wants to go aerial, he merely extends his shot, which he could keep along the ground on another day, or format.
“I’m just made that way,” Aman tells The Indian Express. “I was never this batsman, who used to play aerially or hit the ball hard. It is something I did during the Covid years, where I thought I needed to expand my game. So I started to loft the same shots I used to play along the ground. I’m a huge fan of (Kane) Williamson and (Kumar) Sangakkara, and although I don’t try to copy their game, I believe it is an effective method across formats,” he says.
The ability to play these shots is down to Aman’s formative years where he extensively worked on his technique. According to his father Madhukar Rao, in his first age-group outing, Aman scored only 20-odd runs, but faced around 100 deliveries. As he climbed through age groups, he caught up with intent. The ability to hit sixes is a dimension that Aman realised can’t be compromised. “Since he had a good defence, it was easy for him to expand his range. Growing up, he was too much into technique. Until about 14, he never looked to play shots. But once he got comfortable with basics, he just took off,” Madhukar says.
Wisconsin to Karimnagar
Born in Wisconsin in the US where Madhukar was an IT professional, Aman was a year-and-a-half when he came to India. According to Madhukar, Aman picked up cricket only because he used to accompany his elder brother Akash to a coaching centre. Though Akash left cricket to pursue studies, Aman embraced the sport, prompting the family to move from Karimnagar to Hyderabad, where he was enrolled at St John’s Academy, the alma mater of Laxman.
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Before the current season began, when it became clear after a BCCI rule change that Aman should have an Indian passport, the family faced a dilemma. “Though he had an OCI card, he was still a US citizen and had a US passport. I even suggested that he go to the US because his brother is settled now and cricket is becoming big over there. But he wanted to stay in India and pursue the sport. So we surrendered the US passport and applied for an Indian one and he got hold of it only two days before the SMAT. If he had not got it, he wouldn’t have played this season,” Madhukar says.
The choice wasn’t tough for Aman. For, among those who watched the Thakur-slamming video was his idol Sangakkara. Four days later, he raised the paddle for him at the auction. “I was not surprised, but was a bit taken aback,” Aman says. “I had not attended any trials for Rajasthan. Only Chennai Super Kings had called me. So I didn’t expect RR to get me. Now, all that is going on in my head is how I’m going to warm up to him. I’m trying to prepare myself for that first interaction, but no matter how much I prepare, it isn’t going to be easy. It will take a bit of time” he adds.
Speaking of his 200 against Bengal, Aman knows its importance. Right through the SMAT and Vijay Hazare, he was showing the spark, but a big score was missing. He brought up his maiden century in the 40th over off 108 deliveries before going from 186 to 200 off the last three balls of the innings. His second hundred came off just 46 deliveries. “I always know I can catch-up with strike-rate. I wasn’t thinking of 200 because I was anyway looking for sixes only. More than that, I’m just happy that I was able to find the tempo to construct the innings.”
