"If I give up, then the team spirit will go down" - Hanuma Vihari on coming out to bat with a broken wrist

Andhra skipper Hanuma Vihari reignited the Sydney memories on Day 2 of their Ranji Trophy quarter-final clash against Madhya Pradesh in Indore when he came out to bat left-handed after fracturing his left forearm.

Incidentally, Vihari batted with a hamstring injury to save a Test match for India at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) alongside Ravichandran Ashwin.

This time, he suffered a fracture in his forearm while trying to play an Avesh Khan delivery. But to the surprise of everyone, including the opponents, he came out to bat after Andhra lost their ninth wicket, putting the team's cause on top yet again.

“My hand has a complete fracture," Vihari explained his decision while talking to Sportstar. "It’s on the forearm. The doctor had advised me not to bat and even our physio said I shouldn’t. But when the wickets were falling, I got an idea, ‘why not bat left-handed with a single hand?’

“You never know," he continued. "Even if I faced 10-15 balls, even if it’s 10 runs extra, it would matter. Setting an example was my main intention. If I give up, then the team spirit will go down. But if I go out there in the middle, even if I don’t get any runs, get out first ball also, that’s not a problem. But me being there and setting an example was important for me."

The Indian international extended the session by another 40 minutes and guided Andhra to 379.

Vihari, batting left-handed, played a cut shot for a boundary with his top hand off Avesh before sweeping off-spinner Saransh Jain through square-leg for a four. He finally got out on the first ball after Lunch, scoring 27 off 57 deliveries with the help of five boundaries.

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"Don’t think the game will be decided by the first innings" - Hanuma Vihari

While Hanuma Vihari didn't take the field later, the Andhra bowlers did an exceptional job of reducing the defending champions to 144/4 at stumps on the second day. The senior batter reckoned that the game would have an outright result given that it's a five-day fixture.

“I don’t think the game will be decided by the first innings. It’s a five-day game," he continued. "Every session is important. We have to ensure we get the (remaining) six wickets tomorrow and then bat well. Bat well and put them out of the game, that should be our gameplan. We shouldn’t rest with the first-innings lead.”

The Andhra bowlers continued their brilliant work on Thursday morning (February 2) as well, picking up four more wickets. At the time of writing, Madhya Pradesh were 189/8, still trailing by 190 runs.

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