An evening last December left the Malhotras momentarily lost for words. Manoj and Poonam were on a video call with their son Vihaan, who was in Dubai playing in the U19 Asia Cup. For a few moments, no one spoke. They just smiled and nodded to silently acknowledge what had just happened. Earlier that day, Vihaan had been in the middle of a match against Malaysia. Back home in Patiala, his parents were glued to the television, waiting for the paddles to go up. It took a long time coming, but when it did, it came from the table Vihaan would've hoped for - RCB had just secured the services of a self-confessed Virat Kohli nut.

The 2007-born Vihaan is a child of the IPL era, who grew up watching and fervently rooting for Kohli. During IPL evenings at home, anyone backing another team or player wouldn't find a seat next to him. His formative cricket years leading to his India U19 selection also carried clear traces of Kohli's influence.

Vihaan's cricket sojourn is not typically characterised by early struggle and uncomfortable sacrifices or is one that's vicariously being lived through him by his parents. Cricket came into his life as a hobby and just never left. For Manoj, a Superintending Engineer in the Punjab State Water Supply & Sanitation Department, and Poonam, a gynaecologist working as Rural Medical Officer in Patiala, cricket was a simple outlet for all the hyper energy their six-year-old son had to burn.

But over the next few years, this 'hobby' began to shape-shift into something more serious. For Manoj, there were two standout moments that convinced him that their family of academic high achievers had a sportsman in the making. The first was during an inter-district game where a 10-year-old Vihaan was sent out to field. When a ball was hit towards the long-off boundary, Vihaan covered a lot of ground running and leapt to complete what was regarded as a tough catch. It was a small moment, but one that remains etched in Manoj's memory.

But such fleeting moments don't always lead to a career, and Manoj knew it. By the time Vihaan was in eighth standard, Manoj and Poonam started to have serious conversations about what should lie ahead. Poonam felt it was time for Vihaan to join a coaching institute where he would have to attend classes 4-5 hours a day beyond his school hours. Manoj pushed back and argued that it would kill any hopes of keeping his cricket running simultaneously. They eventually put a pin on the idea of redirecting him away from the sport, and decided to give him a couple of more years on the field at the very least.

"The thing is, for a parent, their child will always be the best cricketer. So we knew that only when he goes into a competition, we will know where he truly stands," Manoj tells Cricbuzz.

That became the second moment of affirmation for Manoj. When Vihaan was in 10th standard and in the midst of pursuing his cricket seriously, he had his breakout tournament. He amassed 978 runs in 15 innings for the eventual champions Punjab U16 team in the Vijay Merchant Trophy with three hundreds and five fifties. "He got an award from the BCCI [for his batting]. The Jagmohan Dalmiya Trophy. That was the point where we felt that he could do well in this line," Manoj says.