While the Indian cricket team is struggling with their batting performance on the English soil, Hanuma Vihari has become the player who is touching new heights with his willow. He might be nowhere in India’s team selection plans, but his first-class batting average has made him certainly the best batsman on this planet.
59.45 – this is the average Vihari is currently carrying against his name. Surprisingly, he has surpassed former Aussie skipper Steve Smith (57.27), Indian skipper Virat Kohli (53.97), Rohit Sharma (54.71) and Cheteshwar Pujara (53.94).
For all these achievements, he credits to his team shift from Hyderabad to Andhra Pradesh. In a conversation with espncricinfo, he said, “I've been playing regularly for Hyderabad since I was 16, but I had a different challenge coming to Andhra. They gave me captaincy straightaway, so they had trust in me and I felt responsible for the trust they had shown.”
“The last couple of years, changing states was a big change for me," Vihari said. "It made me more mature since I knew I was taking a big risk in changing sides. Because if I didn't do well then people will start talking about things. I knew I had to step up, had to do double the hard work and double the runs from before, and it let me come out of my comfort zone,” he added.
He came in the mainframe during the U-19 World Cup 2012 where India lifted the trophy under Unmukt Chand’s leadership. He swiftly scored over 5000 runs in the first-class arena and recently scored a magnificent 295-ball 148 for India ‘A’. However, he still eyes a national call-up or at least in the star-studded Indian Premier League where he last played in 2015 for the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
“For a couple of years, I've been doing well in the shorter format. I got a quick hundred in Vijay Hazare Trophy, been working on my strike-rates and done consistently well in T20s and one-dayers as well. But I don't know how franchises work. That's not in my control, but I would definitely love to be part of the IPL.”
Vihari’s batting has always been his positive. He has scored a double-century in each of his last five Ranji Trophy seasons, including a career-high 302 unbeaten in 2017 against Odisha. However, the 24-year-old cricketer still believes that his performance totally depends on his mindset he carries with himself.
“It's more to do with my mind than with my skills. At this level, it's about what mindset we're carrying on the ground. So I try to think about the game and be one step ahead of the opposition. If I can play according to the situation, and adapt to the conditions, then I feel I can be confident.”