I’ll never play for Andhra again, lost my self-respect there, says Hanuma Vihari

Hanuma Vihari expresses mistreatment by Andhra association, vows to never play for the team, sparking controversy.

Drama unfolded after Andhra's campaign in the Ranji Trophy ended in defeat on Monday with senior batter Hanuma Vihari saying he will never play for the side due to "mistreatment" by the state association, and that he was asked to resign rather than him stepping down as skipper after the first game of the season.

Vihari also hit out at a team-mate (son of a politician) who he alleged had asked his father to take action against him after the veteran player shouted at him during a match. Vihari also shared the copy of his statement on his X account signed by other players in the Andhra team with a one-line comment — "the whole team knows (what had happened on that day)."

Andhra's campaign in the on-going Ranji season came to an end when they lost to Madhya Pradesh by four runs in the quarterfinals at Indore. "Sad part is the association thinks that players have to listen to whatever they say and players are there because of them (association). 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 the association doesn't want us to grow," Vihari wrote on Instagram.

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

Ricky Bhui led the team for the rest of the season, and he now leads the season's run chart with 902 runs.

At the time, Vihari attributed his decision to move away from leadership role due to "personal reasons" but now the right-handed batter said the association had asked him to resign.