"Came to me and said 'Sir, I should not have played this Test'" - R Sridhar recalls fascinating chat with Hanuma Vihari
Former Team India fielding coach R Sridhar has recalled a fascinating chat with batter Hanuma Vihari during the home series against South Africa in 2019.
Vihari played the first Test of the series as the sixth batter and scored 10 (24) in the first innings. The 28-year-old was still fighting for his place in the side and every opportunity counted. However, he went to Sridhar and demanded to be dropped from the playing XI in the greater interest of the team.
Sridhar said Vihari understood that with the top-five in form, India didn't need an extra batter and would be better off playing another bowler. The Andhra batter didn't shy away from expressing his thoughts either, even if it cost him his spot.
In an interview with Cricbuzz, Sridhar said:
"During that Vizag Test, I remember he came to me and said 'Sir, I should not have played this Test'. Hanuma had played that Test because he had got a hundred in the previous Test in Jamaica. In India, we play with certain combinations... We still won that Test match on Day 5 but it took the class of Shami to get us there and took so much out of him."
He added:
"He said, 'Sir, next Test I shouldn't play. We should play with an extra bowler because the way we are batting, we don't need six batters'. Rohit was on fire in that series, Mayank was batting brilliantly at that time and it was also his first Test in India. Hanuma knew that the captain of the team would always keep the team ahead of him. He understands."
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India did what Vihari wanted and brought in pacer Umesh Yadav as his replacement in the second Test. The hosts won it comfortably by an innings and 137 runs and went on to claim the series 3-0. The five-batter and five-bowler combination was cemented and the Vizag Test became Vihari's first and only international outing in India.
"Hanuma Vihari is a terrific reader of the game" - R Sridhar
Glimpse of today’s session! #backatit https://t.co/10FvzxOnJ3
Sridhar, who's coached Vihari at junior level, feels his pupil is a "terrific reader of the game". Citing an example, he also recalled another defining team-man moment of the batter's career - when the middle-order batter was asked to open in the 2018 Boxing Day Test against Australia, which he gladly accepted.
He said:
"Hanuma is a terrific reader of the game. Tactically, he's one of the best I have seen, he has such a good sense of the game. Even with the Indian team, when he was in the reserves, he used to come up with very good tactical inputs. In Melbourne (in 2018), when Ravi (Shastri) told him that you might have to open, he put his hand up and said, 'no problem. I will play'. He understands the game, knows what the team requires and I haven't seen him get flustered by not getting his opportunities to play."
Vihari is currently at another inflection point in his career. He is in India's squad for the two home Tests against Sri Lanka. In the absence of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, he has a good chance of becoming a regular at No.3 or No.5.
His fate will be decided when the first Test begins at 9:30 am IST on Friday.