A few weeks back Hanuma Vihari caught the attention with his magnificent 295-ball 148 for India ‘A’ against the South African opponents in the home conditions. Since then he became the talk of the town while the cricket experts demanded his inclusion in the Indian side which was reeling against England in the 5-match Test series.
It’s a fact that the Indian selectors overlooked the Hyderabad batsman for quite long (who surprisingly has the highest first-class batting average in the world). But when he stepped out to play his maiden international Test innings, he made sure that he must disappoint his skipper and the rest of the teammates.
Vihari scored 56 and put on a vital 77-run partnership with Ravindra Jadeja (86 not out) to help India post 292 in their first innings Sunday. However, later he revealed how nervous he was ahead of his debut and had to call Rahul Dravid to calm down his mind.
“I called him the day before I made my debut. He spoke to me for a couple of minutes and I thought it eased my nerves a little bit. He is a legend of the game; and his inputs especially in the batting department (helped me)," Vihari said Sunday of the influence of the former captain, who is currently the India A coach.
“He just told me that 'you have the skill set; you have the mindset and the temperament, just go out there and enjoy yourself'...I would like to give him a lot of credit because my journey with India A was very important for me to come here, his inputs made me a better player.”
Vihari described his nervousness while facing James Anderson and Stuart Broad in his maiden innings.
“Initially I felt the pressure, to be honest...But once I got myself in, it eased my nerves and it was an important partnership between Jadeja and me,” he said.
“They are world-class bowlers. They have 990-odd wickets between them. Going out to bat, I just wanted to be positive in my intent. Especially when Virat is there, you just have to be there with him, rotate the strike and try to build a partnership,” he added.
Appreciating the support received from the skipper Virat Kohli, he said, “I will give a lot of credit to him for helping me out initially. But once I settled down, the wicket was very good to bat on especially with the medium pacers it got a lot slower yesterday.”
Vihari said his stint with Andhra Pradesh in domestic cricket prepared him for tough situations.
“People don't recognize those states as much as the other states. So in domestic cricket, I try to get big scores, When you play for a smaller state if you are the main batsman you have to take a lot of responsibility," he said.