New Zealand vs India 2020: Hanuma Vihari Blames His Teammates For Poor Batting Show In Second Test
Published - 29 Feb 2020, 05:30 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 06:49 AM
With India failing to deliver with the bat once again in the ongoing Test series against New Zealand, Hanuma Vihari rued the poor shot selection from his teammates. After failing to touch the 200-run mark in the first Test, India did manage to achieve it in the ongoing second one but ended up posting a below-par 242 in the must-win clash.
At the end of day one, New Zealand have taken a firm grip on the game. The hosts were 63 for no loss at stumps after making light work of India’s batting. Hanuma Vihari was one of India’s few impressive performers. Along with Cheteshwar Pujara and Prithvi Shaw, he scored a fifty too.
After India were reduced to 113 for 4, Hanuma Vihari and Pujara gave India some hope of posting a good total by adding 81 runs. However, once the partnership ended with the dismissal of Hanuma Vihari, India’s remaining batsmen fell like a pack of cards.
Innings Break!
India all out for 242.
Follow the game – https://t.co/VTLQt4iEFz #NZvIND pic.twitter.com/agR0cLMcpZ
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 29, 2020
Speaking after the day’s play, the right-handed batsman, who scored 55 off just 70 balls, started by saying that the pitch was not too tough to bat on. He then blamed his teammates for the poor batting display, saying that poor shot selection cost the team a big score.
“Yes, obviously as the pitch didn’t do as much as we expected,” he said in his assessment of the green top.
“They bowled in good areas and knew what to expect from this track. Prithvi set the tone, Pujara spent time. All dismissals happened at wrong time. None of the dismissals were because of the pitch. Mostly it was because of batsmen’s error. Pitch was fair,” he added.
Hanuma Vihari was not happy with his dismissal either, saying that he regretted getting out at the wrong time. His dismissal at the stroke of tea triggered a collapse in the final session.
“It was a wrong time to get out obviously just before tea as we had a good session. We scored 110 runs and lost only one wicket prior to that. I was batting positively but I played one shot too many,” he said.
