Hanuma Vihari, who had decided to quit from the Andhra team after the last season, took a u-turn on his decision afterwards.
Out of favour India Test player Hanuma Vihari has announced he “will never play for Andhra again”. In an Instagram post, on the day Andhra’s Ranji Trophy campaign ended with a close loss to Madhya Pradesh, Vihari blamed political interference in team selection for his decision. Within hours, his social media outburst would snowball into a controversy with the entire Andhra squad backing Vihari and the son of a local politician, who was part of the team earlier in the season, alleging him of using “vulgar language”.
At the centre of the Andhra dressing room drama is a chat that Vihari, skipper back then, had with the player during the first game against Bengal. Later, the talk would see him lose his captaincy. In the post, Vihari mentions the episode. “I was the captain in the first game against Bengal, during that game I shouted at the 17th player and he complained to his dad (who is a politician), his dad in return asked the Association to take action against me. Although, we chased 410 against last year’s finalists Bengal I was asked to resign from captaincy without any fault of mine.”
The Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) denied Vihari’s claims that he was removed from the captaincy because of the alleged interference. In a statement, the ACA said: “In January 2024, following the first Ranji Trophy game, an email from the Chairman of the Senior Selection Committee proposed a new captain due to Vihari’s status as an Indian prospect affecting his season-long availability. Vihari, in response, expressed appreciation for the decision, leading to Ricky Bhui being announced as the new captain.”
The association added it would conduct a “thorough inquiry into all the complaints” before deciding on the further course of action.
The whole team knows! ❤️ pic.twitter.com/l5dFkmjGN9
— Hanuma vihari (@Hanumavihari) February 26, 2024
Though Vihari didn’t make the 17th player’s name public, Andhra wicket-keeper batter KN Prudhviraj, a cricketer yet to make his first-class debut, responded. “I am that guy you are searching in that comment box. Whatever you guys heard is absolutely false, no one is higher than the game and my self-respect is much bigger than anything. Personal attacks and vulgar language is unacceptable in any platform. Everyone in the team knows what has happened that day. Play this sympathy games, however you want,” wrote Prudhviraj, whose father is Kuntrapakam Narsimha, a YSRCP politician.
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One of the Andhra squad players, on the condition of anonymity, gave details about the day Vihari gave Prudhviraj a dressing down during the game against Bengal. “We had conceded around 100 runs in the first session and the entire team was distraught. I did not see what exactly happened, but apparently, Vihari shouted at Prudhviraj when he got back into the dressing room,” he said.
“He was the 17th member of the Ranji squad, and the association secretary (Gopinath Reddy) had initially wanted Vihari and the selectors to include him in the 15 as he is a wicketkeeper and could substitute for Ricky Bhui if he was injured. Vihari did not like interference in team selection. It was just a typical Telugu expletive. There was nothing casteist or anything on those lines from Vihari. These are words that are generally used in those situations in our dressing-room.”
Following the incident, Vihari, it is learnt, was put under pressure to explain his action and words. “Vihari was asked to hand an apology to the player. However, he refused, and that aggravated the situation,” the player who was part of Andhra’s quarter-final XI said.
Subsequently, Vihari stepped down as captain before the second game, while Prudhviraj was included in the squad for the subsequent matches. It is unlikely that Vihari, a domestic stalwart and an India international, will represent Andhra again, though he has his team behind him.
The entire squad of 15 that was part of Andhra’s last Ranji game of the season threw their weight behind Vihari, saying they wanted him as their captain. In a letter addressed to the president, secretary and CEO of the associations – posted by Vihari on Instagram – they wrote: “A complaint has been issued by a fellow teammate in the Ranji squad that Vihari has used foul language and has approached him aggressively, but the truth is he has not approached him aggressively and this sort of language has been a very common thing in our team atmosphere and it is always in getting the best out of the team, and it has been used since long ages in team dressing rooms.”
Ahead of the 2023-24 season, Vihari, who last featured for India in a Test against England in 2022, had expressed his desire for a switch to Madhya Pradesh. However, he was denied an NOC (No-Objection Certificate) by the Andhra Association, and Vihari decided to stay on as captain for another season.
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