After Lokesh’s assurance, Hanuma Vihari ready to play again for Andhra cricket team

Amaravati: Months after senior cricketer Hanuma Vihari said he would never play for the Andhra Pradesh team again for his alleged mistreatment in the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA), Vihari said he is looking forward to coming back and playing for the State.

“Over the years, I faced a lot of humiliation and lost my self-respect. That pushed me to move from the Andhra Cricket Association to another State. But after meeting the minister for IT & Electronics Nara Lokesh, I got the assurance I need to represent my Telugu state. I am looking forward to coming back to ACA,” said Hanuma Vihari in a video statement.

Vihari started the season as Andhra's captain

The middle-order batter, who has played 16 Tests for India, started the season as Andhra captain but stepped down after the first match against last year’s runners-up Bengal.

In an Instagram post earlier, Vihari said, “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’ve decided that I’ll never play for Andhra where I lost my self-respect. I love the team. I love we were growing every season but the association doesn’t want us to grow.”

At the time, Vihari attributed his decision to move away from the leadership role due to ‘personal reasons’ but later the right-handed batter said the association had asked him to resign.

On Tuesday, Nara Lokesh assured that the Andhra Pradesh government is welcoming the star cricketer Hanuma Vihari back into the State after the latter resigned from the captaincy of the Andhra cricket team in a humiliating manner due to excessive political interference.

Sarath Chandra Reddy was president of the AP Cricket Association

“The people have vociferously rejected the political outfit which acted in a dictatorial manner forgetting the basic fact that political interference should not be there in sports. The previous government has started its political game by appointing P Sarath Chandra Reddy, who is an accused in the Delhi liquor scam, as the president of the AP Cricket Association,” Lokesh said.

Lokesh stated that Hanuma Vihari was harassed and insulted by the Andhra Cricket Association only to promote the son of their party leader Kuntrapakam Prithviraj, who was the 17th player in the team.

CM Chandrababu stood by Hanuma Vihari

“Hanuma Vihari, who was totally fed up with the style of functioning of the Andhra Cricket Association, opted out of the captaincy. Soon after learning about this, chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu, the deputy CM Pawan Kalyan and I responded immediately and solidly stood by Hanuma Vihari,” Lokesh said in the note.

Online trend #WeStandWithHanuma too received a tremendous response in social media, the minister said, and added that several cricket fans expressed solidarity with Hanuma Vihari.

“We will take all the necessary measures to encourage sportsmanship in all games and the TDP-led alliance government is ready to do justice to Hanuma Vihari as promised,” Nara Lokesh said.