'Will never play for Andhra again, lost my self-respect there': Hanuma Vihari

Drama unfolded after Andhras campaign in the Ranji Trophy 202324 ended in defeat on Monday with senior batter Hanuma Vihari saying he will never play for the side due to mistreatment by the state association and that he was asked to resign rather than him stepping down as skipper after the first game of the seasonVihari also hit out at a teammate son of a politician who he alleged had asked his father to take action against him after the veteran player shouted at him during a match Vihari also shared the copy of his statement on his X account signed by other players in the Andhra team with a oneline comment the whole team knows what had happened on that dayAndhras campaign in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 202324 season came to an end when they lost to Madhya Pradesh by four runs in the quarterfinals at IndoreSad part is the association thinks that players have to listen to whatever they say and players are there because of them association Ive decided that Ill never play for Andhra where I lost my selfrespectI love the team I love the way were growing every season but the association doesnt want us to grow Vihari wrote on InstagramThe whole team knows pictwittercoml5dFkmjGN9mdash Hanuma vihari Hanumavihari February 26 2024The middleorder batter who has played 16 Tests for India started the season as Andhra captain but stepped down after the first match against last years runnersup BengalRicky Bhui led the team for the rest of the season and he now leads the seasons run chart with 902 runsAt the time Vihari attributed his decision to move away from leadership role due to personal reasons but now the righthanded batter said the association had asked him to resignI was the captain in the first game against Bengal during that game I shouted at the 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 years 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 said VihariAlso ReadIndias 17th successive series win at home rewrites record booksHowever the player in question KN Prudhvi Raj took to Instagram and accused Vihari of making false claimsHello everyone Im that guy you guys are searching in the comment box whatever you guys heard is absolutely false no one is higher than the game and my selfrespect 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 Nuvu inthaku minchi emmi pikkulevu You cant get any better than this Mr so called champion Play this sympathy game however you want wrote Prudhvi RajHowever Vihari later shared the copy of his statement on his X account which was signed by other players in the Andhra team with a oneline comment the whole team knowsHowever the 30yearold expressed grouse that the association did not value his sacrifices for the team over the years recalling last years Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match against Madhya PradeshA forearm injury to his righthand had forced him to bat lefthanded in that game but he could not prevent Andhras ousterThe association thought that player was more important than the guy who gave his body on the line last year and batted lefthanded took Andhra to knock outs 5 times in the last 7 years and played for India in 16 TestsI felt embarrassed but the only reason I continued playing this season was because I respect the game and my team he addedAlso ReadRanchi turns its back on IndiaAhead of the 20232024 domestic season Vihari was also linked with a switch to Madhya Pradesh but he decided to stay on with Andhra after the deal failed to get a final shapeVihari had started his career with Hyderabad and then moved to Andhra during the 201516 season He had returned to Hyderabad for the 20212022 season before rejoining Andhra in the 202223 seasonWith agency inputs