India’s Test specialist, Hanuma Vihari has seamlessly earned his place in the Indian team. After making his debut during the tour England tour in 2018, he has played almost every match for India. Vihati has impressed quite a few people with his calm temperament and it seems like he has a long way to go at the highest level. However, success doesn’t come without sacrifices and that is what Vihari’s mother Vijaylakshi has done.
People around his locality feels that Vihati was destined to play for India since his childhood itself. But when he was just 12 years old, calamity struck the Vihari family as Hanuma’s father Satyanarayana passed away. But then his mother left no stone unturned in supporting her child and made sure that he pursues his dreams.
While speaking to Cricbuzz, Hanuma Vihari revealed the anecdotes of his early life and how his mother has supported him to make it to the international cricket. He said, “The one thing that defines my mother is her daring. She is never scared. You could say it’s the hallmark of her identity.”
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Vijaylakshi recalled the early days when her husband passed away and during the same time, Hanuma had recently got into the U13 cricket. This is where she understood that her son needed to focus more on cricket and get better and built a cricket pitch for him from the money she got from her husband’s company.
To top it all, Vijaylakshi reckons that it was her responsibility to support her son and it was never a sacrifice for her. And the move worked for the Andhra cricketer as the next time when he played at the U13 state level, he topped the run charts in the competition.
Vihari further elaborated, “I received a lump sum from my husband’s company as compensation after he died. Around that time, Hanuma had just played U-13 cricket and hadn’t performed well. I knew that he needed more time to practice than he was getting at nets. So, I decided to use the lump sum to build a cricket pitch for him.”
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“The next time he played at the U-13 state level, he was the highest run-getter in the tournament. That’s when I knew my effort had paid off,” Hanuma Vihari’s mother said. Hanuma now has so far played nine Tests for India in which he has amassed 552 runs at an average close to 37 with a century and four fifty-plus scores to his name.
