Hanuma Vihari alleges ouster from Andhra captaincy due to political interference from player’s father, Player in question slams Vihari
Hanuma Vihari’s abrupt resignation as Andhra captain in January sparked a lot of controversy which cast a shadow on the team’s entire Ranji season. Initially, Vihari and his vice-captain, Ricky Bhui, presented the reason as Vihari wanting to focus solely on his batting. However, there were reports that the actual story was something else and that has been confirmed today.
Following Andhra Pradesh’s exit from the Ranji Trophy, Vihari took to social media today to bring to light, the fact that he was asked to resign from the captain’s post by the board. Vihari wrote that during the team’s first game of the season, he shouted at a player whose father is a politician. The player, who has been identified as Prudhvi Raj, complained to his father who eventually took the matter up with the board, leading to Vihari’s ouster.
“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 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. The sad part is that the 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 until today. I’ve decided that I’ll never play for Andhra where I lost my self-respect,” he wrote.
“I am that guy”
Meanwhile, Prudhvi Raj, the 24-year-old player took to Instagram to identify himself as the player who was involved in the ugly episode with Vihari. Raj has stated that he was subject to personal attacks and abusive language from Vihari’s end and that the former captain is playing sympathy games.
“Hello everyone I’m that guy, you guys are searching in the comment box, whatever you guys heard is 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,” he wrote.
The controversy surrounding Vihari’s exit highlights concerns about potential external influence and the lack of transparency within the ACA. Vihari’s accusations raise serious questions about player autonomy and fair selection practices. While the truth behind the events may never be fully known, this episode has tarnished Andhra cricket’s image.
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