Hanuma Vihari, who recently made his Test debut as well as international cricket debut, was a surprise selection during the recent England tour and even he couldn’t believe that. While he played a brilliant half-century knock on his debutant innings, Vihari reveals that he was really blank when came to bat at first.
In the five-match Test series on the England soil, Vihari was surprisingly included for the last two Tests of the series. In the dead-rubber final Test of the series, Vihari made his international cricket debut. During India’s first innings (second innings of the match), when the visitors were struggling against the top English bowlers, Vihari made a solid impact and played an impressive 56-run knock.
However, in the early of that innings, Vihari was very nervous against the top English pacers. He also admitted that he was really blank in the first few deliveries.
In an interview with Cricbuzz, Vihari said about his early moment of that debutant innings, “Actually, to be honest, when I walked in, I was really blank. I didn’t know what was happening in my surrounding. I was really blank and was looking to focus too hard on the ball, maybe that nervousness led to my technical flaws a little bit. But later on when I relaxed a bit, after those first eight deliveries, I started to fall back on my natural game, my own game, with the technique I have. The first eight deliveries I could not think clearly of what I was doing or trying to do. Maybe, that’s what you call nerves, the pressure of international cricket. How I tackle it next time will be very important.”
In the early stage of his debutant innings, Vihari was lucky as England didn’t review after Stuart Broad’s delivery hit on his pad. It would be a clear wicket for Broad if England would take the review and Vihari would be dismissed on the duck. While the ball-tracker was not shown on the giant screen, Vihari knew about that incident after the end of the day’s play.
Vihari spoke about that, “I thought it was close. I didn’t think it would be three reds, I thought maybe it would be umpire’s call but luckily it went my way. I was not thinking of that delivery to be honest for long, I had no choice but to focus on the next delivery.”
Talking about gaining first confidence in that innings, Vihari said when he made a straight drive to Sam Curran for a four.
He quoted, “When I straight drove Sam Curran for four, I got my first real sense of confidence. Because I was starting to get used to the conditions, getting a hang of what their bowlers were trying to do, assessing the conditions. Then once I got that boundary, I felt a lot more comfortable.”
Vihari felt inspired from the Indian skipper Virat Kohli after getting an interaction in lunch where Kohli shared his experiences.
Vihari said, “I’d had one interaction with Virat before the match. Me, Prithvi [Shaw] and Rishabh [Pant] had a chance to go out with him for lunch, along with the support staff. He spoke to us for nearly two hours, about how Test cricket was going to be, what we had to do to succeed at the international level. He told us through his past experiences with the Indian team and a few other stories he shared with us. It is very inspiring to hear from someone who’s been playing for India for the past ten years, someone who is as successful as him, I took a lot out of it.”
Vihari’s Test inclusion was a really surprising call as he also couldn’t believe that. He was preparing for the Quadrangular series with the India A side in Bangalore when the national team management texted him the selection news, after India A manager suddenly enquired about his clothing size. When he talked with the India A and India U-19 head coach Rahul Dravid, the former Indian captain told him that he deserves that opportunity.
Vihari recalled that moment, “I couldn’t believe it, I was very, very emotional then. I called up my mom, my coach and later in the night, I called Rahul [Dravid] sir to tell him that I got selected. He told me, ‘You deserve this chance, you have been working so hard in the domestic circuit, you have been grinding out runs, you have a good temperament, just continue to have that self belief and go out there and perform’.”
Vihari claimed that spending 15 days with the Indian cricket team was wonderful and it will stay in his memory for his entire life.
Talking about the first meeting with the national team-mate, Vihari said, ”The first person I met when I was entering the hotel was Ravi Shastri. He welcomed us with ‘feel free, feel like [it is] your own team.’ He made us comfortable. We had breakfast with all our teammates, it didn’t feel different. They treated us very well, they made us comfortable, It was easy for us to get into that atmosphere and culture of the team. It was wonderful, those 15 days went off very quickly and it was very memorable. It will stay with me for my entire life. I can never forget those 15 days in international cricket.”
While in the Indian cricket history, some cricketers faced pranks in their maiden international cricket journey, Vihari hadn’t faced anything that as he has only to give a debutant’s speech as a ritual.
The 24-year-old said, “I had to give a speech. They didn’t pull any pranks on me. It’s a ritual, they call it the debutant’s speech, what you want to do, what you want to contribute… it happened at the hotel, in front of the whole team, just before the last Test.”
When Vihari was asked to specify one innings that his heart told him that he wasn’t far away from the national team, the right-handed batsman said a 148-run first-class knock against South Africa at Alur. Incidentally, it was the last game for Vihari before making his debut for the Indian cricket team.
Vihari said, “After that hundred against South Africa A, I felt that it was not very far now. Because I’d been scoring very consistently, even in England I scored for India A, then against South Africa A, I thought maybe I am not very far now. I need to keep doing what I am and I will get there one day. I didn’t think it would come this soon but I am glad it came.”
