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Andhra batter Hanuma Vihari on Monday made shocking revelations about being forced to leave Andra's Ranji Trophy captaincy, after just one match of the ongoing season.
The former skipper took to social media to reveal that he was made to step down from the captaincy post after he shouted at the 17th player in the team, who was a politician's son. In his post, he has vowed to never play for Andhra in domestic cricket again.
“This is about the ongoing issue about HANUMA VIHARI. A complaint has been issued by a fellow teammate in the Ranji squad that Vihari has used foul language and has approached him aggressively, but the truth is he has not approached him aggressively and this sort of language has been a very common thing in our team atmosphere and it is always in getting the best out of the team, and it has been used since long ages in team dressing rooms,” the letter read.
Meanwhile, in response to Vihari's revelation, the 17th player in question, wicketkeeper-batter KN Prudhviraj, who is yet to play a first-class match took to Instagram to share his reaction.
Prudhviraj has made claims that Vihari used “vulgar language” against him. However, the players refuted Prudhviraj's claims in their letter to the Andhra Cricket Association (ACA).
"Personal attacks and vulgar language is unacceptable in any platform. Everyone in the team knows what has happened that day. This is the most you can do. Play this sympathy games, however you want," he added.
Vihari's revelations come following the end of the team's Ranji Trophy campaign this season where they were defeated by 5 runs in the quarter-finals by Madhya Pradesh at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Monday.
"Although, we chased 410 against last year's finalists Bengal, I was asked to resign from captaincy without any fault of mine. I never said anything on a personal note to the player but the association thought that player was more important than the guy who gave his body on the line last year and batted left handed, took Andhra to knock outs 5 times in the last 7 years and played for India in 16 tests.”
"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 association doesn't want us to grow," wrote Vihari in his detailed post.
Vihari began his domestic cricket career with Hyderabad in 2010 and played for the side until the 2015/16 season. He later returned to play for Hyderabad in the 2021/22 season, before moving back to Andhra for the next season.
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