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

Amaravati: Months after senior cricketer Hanuma Vihari said he would never play for the Andhra Pradesh team again due to 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 have faced a lot of humiliation and lost my self-respect. That prompted me to move from the Andhra Cricket Association to another state. But after meeting IT and Electronics Minister Nara Lokesh, I got the assurance I need to represent my Telugu state. I look forward to returning to ACA,” Hanuma Vihari said in a video statement.

Vihari started the season as captain of Andhra

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

In an earlier post on Instagram, Vihari said: “The sad thing is that the association thinks that players should listen to what they say and that players are there because of them. I have decided that I will never play for Andhra, where I have lost my self-respect. I like the team. I love that we grew every season, but the association doesn’t want us to grow.”

At the time, Vihari attributed his decision to relinquish the leadership role to ‘personal reasons’, but later the right-handed batsman said the association had asked him to step down.

On Tuesday, Nara Lokesh assured that the Andhra Pradesh government will welcome back star cricketer Hanuma Vihari to the state after the latter humiliatingly resigned as captain of the Andhra cricket team due to excessive political interference.

Sarath Chandra Reddy was the president of the AP Cricket Association

“The people have loudly rejected the political group that acted in a dictatorial manner, forgetting the fundamental fact that there should be no political interference in sports. The previous government started its political game by appointing P. Sarath Chandra Reddy, who is 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 just to promote their party leader Kuntrapakam Prithviraj’s son, who was the 17th player in the team.

CM Chandrababu assisted Hanuma Vihari

“Hanuma Vihari, who was completely fed up with the style of functioning of the Andhra Cricket Association, has resigned from the captaincy. Soon after we heard about this, Prime Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu, Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan and I immediately responded and stood firmly behind Hanuma Vihari,” Lokesh said in the note.

Online trend #WeStandWithHanuma also received tremendous response on social media, the minister said, adding that several cricket fans expressed solidarity with Hanuma Vihari.

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