Hanuma Vihari reiterated his hopes of returning to the Indian team so often in the span of an eight-minute conversation that it felt like he was consoling himself rather than convincing those in his vicinity.
Whatever his choice of words to convey persistence, he wasn’t very persuasive for he slipped in and out of a resentful tone while his body still wore the scars of rejection from over a year ago.
Vihari, despite an average of 33.56 in 16 Tests with one century and five half-centuries, last donned the Indian whites against England in Birmingham in 2022.
After dropping him for the two-Test series against Bangladesh in December 2022, Chethan Sharma, the then chairman of selectors, had said: “It’s not like there’s something wrong with this player (Vihari)… he’ll definitely come back very soon.”
That, obviously, hasn’t happened. And now, Vihari slouches with a rather unsightly gut at the M Chinnaswamy stadium as the captain of the South Zone side which will take on North Zone for a spot in the Duleep Trophy final from Wednesday.
“It’s always tough to make a comeback once you’re dropped. It plays on your mental side, it affects your mindset quite a bit, I went through that last season, but this season I am focussed and I want to do better,” says Vihari.
“If it happens it happens, I need to keep getting better and stay motivated,” he adds.
In the past, motivation wasn’t something Vihari had to recall as if a distant memory because he always had his mother’s sacrifices to pay homage to.
After his father’s untimely death when Vihari was 12-years-old, Vijayalakshmi chose to ignore employment and live on her late husband’s measly pension to dedicate her life to making Vihari’s dream come true.
She set up ‘nets’ at home when there was rarely enough food to go around. She bought a bowling machine when they couldn’t afford lights.
These testing beginnings in Kakinada crafted a cricketer with grit, and it just so happened that he was aesthetic too. With these attributes, Vihari accumulated 8600 runs at an average of 53.41 from 113 first-class games.
Indian selectors came calling in 2018. He was touted as the next Cheteshwar Pujara, an elegant version. Ironically, at this very moment, Pujara is in Alur - 26 kilometres from central Bengaluru - for West Zone’s semifinal tie against Central Zone in a bid to find his way back into the Indian side.
“It’s very tough. It took a lot of time to understand why I was dropped at all. Then, to get motivated and try to make a comeback is hard,” says the Andhra player.
When asked if he now knows why he has been sidelined, Vihari says: “I am not sure even now because I thought that I did well and to the best of my ability whenever I did get the chance. Maybe, my best was not good enough for the Indian team (smirks).”
The 29-year-old then revealed seeking solace in Ajinkya Rahane’s recent return to the Indian side at 35.
“Hope is always there. Until you retire you keep hoping that you will come back to the Indian side. Again, I am still 29 so I have a lot of time. You have seen Ajinkya Rahane making a comeback at 35,” he says.
“Previously, guys at 35 would not get a chance to make a comeback. What this proves is that if the player has quality, if he can contribute to the Indian side, there is always time to make a comeback.”
But just as streaks of optimism were beginning to come through, Vihari says: “I was doing commentary during the IPL! I have been branded as a Test player and so everyone thinks I can only play red-ball cricket, that’s unfair. That means I only have first-class cricket to prove myself. I can’t play the IPL and be seen.”
If that wasn’t enough, he adds: “Many players seem to be making their comebacks (in Tests) after putting up good performances in the IPL.”
One has to feel for him, but he isn’t helping himself, least of all looking like that.
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