Vihari’s allegations against player flames up controversy with Andhra Cricket Assoc

The Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) today declined all the allegations made by Indian batter Hanuma Vihari pertaining to his captaincy controversy, which took place during the ongoing Ranji Trophy season.

Vihari made several allegations in a detailed post on his social media accounts.

Hanuma Vihari’s allegations

The controversy erupted when Vihari announced he will never play for Andhra in domestic cricket after being made to leave captaincy of the team in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season by the ACA.

Vihari’s revelation comes after Andhra lost to Madhya Pradesh by five runs in the quarter-finals of the Ranji Trophy 2023/24 season at the Holkar Stadium in Indore today.

Vihari said he was asked to resign from captaincy following Andhra’s first game of the season against Bengal after he shouted at the 17th player in the team, KN Prudhviraj, who was a politician’s son.

Vihari wrote in a detailed post, “We fought hard till the end but it wasn’t meant to be. Gutted to lose an another quarters with Andhra. This post is about some facts I want to put forward. I was the captain in the first game against Bengal, during that game I shouted on 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. 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 knock outs 5 times in the last 7 years and played for India in 16 tests,” he added.

“I felt embarrassed but the only reason I continued playing this season because I respect the game and my team. Sad part is association thinks that players have to listen to whatever they say and players are there because of them. I felt humiliated and embarrassed but I’ve not expressed it out until today,” read his post.

He announced, “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 association doesn’t want us to grow.”

KN Prudhviraj’s response

Prudhviraj, a wicketkeeper-batter, who’s yet to play a first-class match, wrote in response on Instagram, “Hello everyone, I am that guy you are searching in that comment box. Whatever you guys heard is absolute 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. This is the most you can do. Play this sympathy games, however you want,” he remarked.

Vihari shows team’s support

Vihari, after Prudhviraj’s allegations, produced a photo of a letter showcasing the Andhra Ranji team’s support after the first match.

It reads that the players urged Vihari to remain captain and he had done nothing wrong, along with 15 signatures of the whole squad.

Andhra Cricket Association issues clarification

Amidst the turmoil taking place on social media, ACA announced that they deny all the allegations made by Vihari in his posts, and issued a clarification.

A circular released by the association mentioned a player, apparently Prudhviraj, “filed an official complaint with the ACA.”

It added, “It has come to our attention that Mr Vihari personally verbally abused a specific player during the Bengal Ranji game in front of everyone.”

Hanuma Vihari’s career recap

Vihari began his domestic cricket career with Hyderabad in 2010 and played for the side until the 2015/16 season. He later returned to play for Hyderabad in the 2021/22 season, before moving back to Andhra for the next season.

Agencies had reported in June 2023 that Vihari, who last played for India in the 2022 Birmingham Test against England, could be moving to Madhya Pradesh before the start of the current domestic season, but later decided to be with Andhra.

After that match against Bengal in the 2023/24 Ranji Trophy, Vihari stepped down from captaincy citing personal reasons, with Ricky Bhui taking over the leadership mantle from Andhra’s match against Mumbai at the BKC Ground last month.

(With inputs from IANS)

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