'They removed me from the post of captain' - Hanuma Vihari's first response after exposing ACA 

Indian batsman and former Andhra captain Hanuma Vihari has been under the light in recent times due to his rift with the Andhra Pradesh Cricket Association.

In a long Instagram post, the right-handed batter explained about the mishappening that occurred with him in the Andhra cricket team. In the caption, Vihari stated that he was forced to leave the captaincy of the team due to a political influence in the state board’s cricket association.

Hanuma Vihari came up with the announcement after Andhra failed to make it to the semi-finals of the Ranji Trophy and lost to Madhya Pradesh by four runs.

As per Vihari, he had shouted at a 17th player whose name was later revealed as KN Prudhviraj. The incident occurred during Andhra’s first match against Bengal when Vihari was the captain of the side.

Hanuma Vihari’s first response after exposing ACA

As per Hanuma Vihari, the player had complained of the incident to his father, who was a politician. Vihari further added that he was forced to be removed from the captaincy of the team but still, he played under Ricky Bhui despite being humiliated and embarrassed.

Hanuma Vihari in an interaction with India Today, threw some more light on the incident. Vihari opened up about the whole incident and stated that he put the things on social media as he wanted the people to know the truth. The right-handed batter stated that he continued playing for his team as he respected the game and his side.

Hanuma Vihari said, “As a cricketer, I’ve been playing for a long time now. I’ve gone through a lot of struggles. I’ve played for both states. It’s not easy to play. I’ve taken Andhra cricket team to its standard. It so happened that I shouted at a player, the 17th player who was not supposed to be in the dressing room. According to rules, he was not supposed to be there. But he took it the wrong way and he complained to his father.”

“And everything went wrong from there. They complained about me. And without any wrongdoing from my side, they removed me from the post of captain. Still, I continued playing for the team, because I loved the game and respected the game. Once the tournament was over, I put out a message on social media because I felt people should know the truth about what happened.”

While Hanuma Vihari has not played a single Test match for India since July 2022, the right-handed batter sustained a wrist fracture against Madhya Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy quarter-final last season. However, the batter showed a great cricketing spirit and came out to bat with his left hand. However, Andhra wasn’t able to win the match but Vihari garnered a lot of praise from many Indian cricketing greats and the fans.

Hanuma Vihari has played a total of 16 Test matches for India, wherein he has scored 839 runs at an average of 33.56. He has scored one hundred but due to a dip in form, he was excluded from the side.