With their pace bowling unit beginning to enter their prime days, they wanted to challenge them further by taking the field with just three. And more importantly, they could no longer bench Hanuma Vihari, a player who had left a lasting impression on Shastri less than six months after being part of the team. u201cThat boy, he has all the courage,u201d Shastri would say one evening praising Vihari for the grit he has in him.
Source:- indianexpress
That tour was the start of the World Test Championship cycle. Having got into the team a year back as a last-minute entry for the tour of England, Vihariu2019s 56 in the first innings and his willingness to open at the Boxing Day Test three months later as a stop-gap arrangement showed he had the character.A regular member of the squad in the first WTC cycle, Vihari disappeared when the second cycle came about. Dropped for the home series against New Zealand when Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane all ended up missing a match or two, he got a look-in when Cheteshwar Pujara was dropped for the Tests against Sri Lanka. He played those two and the one-off Test in England before being dropped again.And as another WTC cycle gets underway in the Caribbean on Wednesday, Vihari would be busy playing the Duleep Trophy final in Bengaluru, where he is leading South Zone against West Zone. u201cDefinitely, there was disappointment,u201d Vihari told The Indian Express about the circumstances in which he was dropped. u201cI didnu2019t find a reason why I was dropped and it was the only thing that was bothering me. Nobody really contacted me and told me the reasons why I was dropped. It took some time and I have gone through ups and downs and Iu2019m not worried about it now. Iu2019ve put aside my personal side of things and I donu2019t take too much stress about whether Iu2019m in the Indian team or not. There are other matches to win and it is about winning the trophies,u201d Vihari said
Last Saturday, soon after South Zone prevailed in a thrilling semi-final over North Zone at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Vihari was asked about the fluency with which he went about his batting in the second innings where he scored 43 off 42 deliveries. u201cIt is a misconception that I only bat slowly,u201d Vihari would respond with a smile on his face. It is the perception he has been battling all along. One of the reasons that were u201cleakedu201d when Vihari was dropped from the Test squad was that the team was now looking for players who could show more intent. Without anyone mentioning it, it once again came down to strike-rate, something that Pujara had to battle with.Share your views in the comments
