Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) on Monday announced an inquiry against the senior batter, Hanuma Vihari, who had accused the state cricket body of forcing him to resign from captaincy at the start of the ongoing season.
Earlier today, Vihari said that he would never play for the side due to “mistreatment” by the state association. The announcement came after Madhya Pradesh defeated Andhra Pradesh by 4 runs in the quarterfinals of Ranji Trophy 2024.
“Complaints were received from teammates, support staff and ACA administrators about Vihari’s use of foul language and abusive behaviour. ACA will conduct a thorough inquiry into all complaints and the due course of action will be communicated,” said the ACA in a media release.
In an Instagram post on Monday, Vihari said that during his captaincy, he shouted at a player, who complained about it to his father. As the father of the player was a politician, he asked the Cricket Association to take action against Hanuma Vihari.
ACA stated that it had received a complaint from the junior player about Vihari at that time.
“It has come to our attention that Mr Vihari personally verbally abuse a specific player during the Bengal Ranji game in front of everyone. The affected player filed an official compliant with the ACA,” the release said.
Vihari had shared a copy of his statement on his X account signed by other players in the Andhra team with a one-line comment — “the whole team knows (what had happened on that day).”
“Sad part is the association thinks that players have to listen to whatever they say and players are there because of them (association). I’ve decided that I’ll never play for Andhra where I lost my self-respect.
“I love the team. I love the way we’re growing every season but the association doesn’t want us to grow,” Vihari wrote on Instagram.
At the time, Vihari attributed his decision to move away from leadership role due to “personal reasons” but now the right-handed batter said the association had asked him to resign.
“I 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.
“I was asked to resign from captaincy without any fault of mine. I never said anything on a personal note to the player,” said Vihari.
But the ACA said the decision to appoint a new captain was taken in view of Vihari’s possible non-availability because of him being an India prospect.
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Published: 26 Feb 2024, 11:17 PM IST