Hanuma Vihari, the cricketer from Andhra, recently took to Instagram to shed light on the circumstances that led to his resignation from the captaincy after Andhra’s exit from the Ranji Trophy 2024. Vihari revealed that a verbal altercation with a reserve player, Kuntrapakam Narsimha Prudhviraj, who happened to be the 17th player not supposed to be in the dressing room, sparked a chain of events.
In a detailed explanation, Vihari clarified that he had scolded the reserve player for being in the dressing room, violating the rules. The situation escalated when Prudhviraj, not taking the correction positively, complained to his politician father, leading to a formal complaint to the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA). The repercussions were severe for Vihari, who had to step down from the captaincy.
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“It so happened that I shouted at a player, the 17th player who was not supposed to be in the dressing room. According to rules, he was not supposed to be there. But he took it the wrong way and he complained to his father. And everything went wrong from there,” explained Hanuma Vihari in an interview with India Today.
The @BCCI must impartially probe the Hanuma Vihari vs Andhra cricket association feud. No way can an India player’s image be sullied because the association wants to protect someone else. @Hanumavihari deserves justice
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) February 27, 2024
He further added, “They complained about me. And without any wrongdoing from my side, they removed me from the post of captain. Still, I continued playing for the team, because I loved the game and respected the game.”
The incident occurred a couple of months ago, leaving Vihari in a challenging situation. The negative impact on his self-respect and the inability to reconcile with the circumstances prompted him to announce his departure from the Andhra team. Vihari clarified that he didn’t want to resign but felt compelled to do so due to the circumstances created by the complaint against him.
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“What they have complained is my behaviour is not right. And I don’t know they had, but then I was forced to resign. I was not okay with it. I had to resign. I had no other option. I sent an email also because I wanted to maintain the morale of the team. The actual reason was I didn’t want to resign. We thought of winning the Ranji Trophy. But since that complaint, everything went wrong,” added Hanuma Vihari, expressing the challenging situation he found himself in.
