Indian Test Cricketer Hanuma Vihari hails from Vizag, Andhra Pradesh state. He has been backbone for the team progress in Ranji Trophy seasons ever since he got selected to present the team in first class cricket. He has sensationally decided to withdraw from representing Andhra Pradesh state team further in Ranjis post their loss in quarter-finals in 2024 season.
He stated his reasons for this decision in a long note. He stated that he is gutted with the loss but more irritated, agitated and frustrated for the way he is treated and humiliated by Andhra Pradesh Cricket Association’s decision to side with a young player belonging to Political family instead of him as their captain and senior player, who also represented India in sixteen tests.
He wrote, “We fought hard till the end but it wasn’t meant to be. Gutted to lose an another quarters with Andhra. This post is about some facts I want to put forward. I was the captain in the first game against Bengal, during that game I shouted on 17th player and he complained to his dad(who is a politician), his dad in return asked the Association to take action against me.”
Hanuma Vihari continued to talk about his accomplishments in his career for Andhra Team and Indian team. He stated, “Although, we chased 410 against last year’s finalists Bengal I was asked to resign from captaincy without any fault of mine. I never said anything on a personal note to the player but the association thought that player was more important than the guy who gave his body on the line last year and batted left handed, took Andhra to knock outs 5 times in the last 7 years and played for India in 16 tests.”
He later went on to describe how the decision made him feel. He said, “I felt embarrassed but the only reason I continued playing this season because I respect the game and my team. Sad part is association thinks that players have to listen to whatever they say and players are there because of them. I felt humiliated and embarrassed but I’ve not expressed it out until today.”
He firmly stated his decision to move on from next season. He wrote, “I’ve decided that I’ll never play for Andhra where i lost my self respect. I love the team. I love the way we’re growing every season but association doesn’t want us to grow.”
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Hanuma Vihari rose to fame for his resilient innings against Australia in Sydney Test. Along with Ravichandran Ashwin, with a fractured thumb, he held one end to navigate India to a respectable draw in the absence of Captain Virat Kohli. This helped India to win the series at Brisbane with Rishabh Pant’s historic innings in the chase.
Well, Vihari should not have had to face such humiliation under any circumstance. Hope BCCI will look into the issue and handle it with required grace for one of the Indian Test players, who contributed greatly for Indian win down-under be given the required respect he deserves.
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