Hanuma Vihari reveals reason behind leaving Andhra captaincy, teammate responds

Out of favour, India star Hanuma Vihari took to social media to mention his side of the story over leaving Andhra’s captaincy. The 30-year-old hinted it was due to a player that the decision was taken. 

Andhra Pradesh lost in the Indian domestic season’s quarter-final to former champions Madhya Pradesh. It was a cruel blow as Andhra needed just 170 runs to win the game and was bowled out for 165. 

Hanuma Vihari was the sixth wicket to fall after scoring a brave 55 runs from 136 balls. For the hosts, it was pacer Anubhav Agarwal who did the damage as he picked 6/52 from his 19 overs.  

Hanuma Vihari reveals his frustration with Andhra Cricket

Just minutes after Andhra Pradesh were bundled out of the domestic tournament, Hanuma Vihari took to social media. The 30-year-old aimed the association for the treatment meted out to him. 

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Vihari wrote “We fought hard till the end, but it wasn’t meant to be. Gutted to lose another quarter with Andhra. 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), and 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 out-of-favour star also wrote “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 knockouts 5 times in the last 7 years and played for India in 16 Tests. I felt embarrassed but the only reason I continued playing this season was because I respect the game and my team.”

Vihari ended by writing “The sad part is the association thinks that players have to listen to whatever they say and players are there because of them. 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 the association doesn’t want us to grow.”

Here's what Prudhvi Raj posted:

The player who was hinted at by Vihari responded on social media. Prudvi Raj wrote “Hello everyone I am that guy, you guys are searching in that comment box. Whatever you guys heard is completely false. No one is higher than the game and my self-respect is much bigger than anything. Personal attacks and vulgar language are unacceptable in any kind of human platform. Everyone in the team knows what happened that day”. The player also his views on Telegu before asking Vihari to take the sympathy route.