Andhra Pradesh Cricket association initiates action against Hanuma Vihari following his declaration to never play for the state team

In a recent development and in light of Hanuma Vihari’s decision to resign from his captaincy as well as playing a role for the Andhra Pradesh team in the domestic circuit, the governing cricket body of the state has disclosed that they have initiated a probe against Vihari which could see the matter further stretch instead of finding a quick solution.

This comes after Hanuma Vihari who was captaining Andhra Pradesh in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2024, took to Instagram and hit out against the state board for disrespecting him and asking him to step down as captain of the team. In that post, the batter revealed some shocking things including the disrespect he received from the ACA hierarchy.

How did it all start between Hanuma Vihari and the “17th” player?

What had happened was that Vihari had verbally abused and shouted at a player named KN Prudhvi Raj who is the son of a local politician. After gulping down Vihari’s shout in front of all their teammates, Prudhvi Raj then asked his politician father to take action against Vihari by filing a complaint to the ACA.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Hanuma vihari (@viharigh)

The ACA would then intervene and ask Hanuma Vihari to resign, a player who dragged Andhra to 5 of the last 7 quarter-final rounds. Vihari wrote in his post that he had lost his self-respect in the dressing room and that by putting a stone in his heart, he would never play for Andhra Pradesh ever again.

His social media post created a massive stir within the national cricketing fraternity and sent a major shockwave in the Andhra Pradesh team as well who were knocked out by Madhya Pradesh in the Quarter-finals.

In response and in a stand of unity and support, Hanuma Vihari’s team mate including interim Andhra captain Ricky Bhui signed a letter among 14 others, demanding the ACA to bring back Vihari and that abusive language within the dressing room is a normal thing. The letter also read that complainant Prudhvi Raj happened to take the abuse personally, something that has been there for ages, even in the Indian national team.

ACA to conduct a transparent inquiry

After coming across all of this, the ACA said in a press release that they will be conducting a thorough and transparent inquiry into the Hanuma Vihari matter concerning all opinions from all sides – teammates and coaching staff.

“Complaints were received from teammates, support staff, and ACA administrators about Vihari’s use of foul language and abusive behavior. ACA will conduct a thorough inquiry into all complaints and the due course of action will be communicated.” – the state association wrote. 

The complainant Prudhvi Raj had also taken to Instagram to express his views and lashed out at Hanuma Vihari for playing a sympathy card and that personal attacks and foul language are unacceptable in any given profession.

“Hello everyone! I’m that guy, you guys are searching in the comment box, whatever you guys heard is absolutely false, no one is higher than the game. Personal attacks and vulgar language are unacceptable in any kind of human platform. Everyone on the team knows what happened that day Mr so-called champion. Play this sympathy game however, you want.” – Prudhvi Raj wrote on his Instagram handle.