Andhra captain Hanuma Vihari showed exemplary courage as he batted with a broken hand in the Ranji Trophy 2022-23 quarterfinal against Madhya Pradesh in an effort to help his team move into the semi-finals.
Vihari had broken his left forearm trying to fend off a bouncer from Avesh Khan on the opening day itself and retired hurt. But he came out to bat at no.11 and batted left-handed to protect his injured hand.
Many lauded Vihari for his courage, but there were others also who questioned his decision to bat again and risk injuring his hand further. Even the team physio had warned Vihari against taking this step but the batter was determined to go out and score some crucial runs for his team.
When asked by Aakash Chopra about his decision to bat on the Aakashvani show on JioCinema, Vihari said: "When I said that I wanted to bat, the physio told me 10 times that my career might be at risk if I am hit on the hand again while batting. I told the physio that there is no problem if I don't play cricket after this match but if I give up for Andhra in this match, it will be in my heart forever.
I was devastated because it was a quarterfinal match, such an important match for Andhra and I was not able to bat. I thought it would be an advantage even if I could add 10-15 runs for the team for the last wicket and I took that decision. If you have to do it for the team, you get the courage.”
Ranji Trophy 2022-23: WATCH- Hanuma Vihari successfully executes a one-handed reverse swat vs MP
Vihari was also asked about the lack of opportunities in the Indian Test team, the batter admits that there will be some 'disappointment'.
"Obviously there will be some disappointment but my job will be to score more runs in domestic cricket and I will try to do that to make a comeback. I have the confidence that if I score big runs for one or two seasons in domestic cricket and win matches for my team, I will again get the chance to prove myself for India.
I can do much better abroad as well. In whatever I have played abroad in my career, probably my performance wasn't good enough to sustain my place in the XI. So I will look at my own performance rather than thinking whether this or that happened with me and I was dropped," he stated.
In 16 Tests for India, Vihari has so far aggregated 839 runs at an average of 33.56.
