The Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) on Monday announced an investigation into senior batsman Hanuma Vihari, accusing the state cricket body of forcing him to resign as captain at the start of the season.
Earlier today, Vihari said he would not play for the team citing “mistreatment” by the state association. The announcement came after Madhya Pradesh defeated Andhra Pradesh by four runs in the quarter-finals of Ranji Trophy 2024.
“Teammates, support staff, and ACA administrators have complained of Vihari's foul language and abusive behavior. ACA conducts a thorough investigation of all complaints and appropriate action will be taken.” ACA said in a media release.
In an Instagram post on Monday, Vihari said that when he was captain, he yelled at a player and the player complained about it to his father. Since the player's father was a politician, he requested the cricket board to take action against Hanuma Vihari.
ACA said at the time that it had received complaints from junior players regarding Vihari.
“During the Bengal Ranji match, it has come to light that Mr. Vihari personally abused certain players in front of everyone. The affected players have filed an official ACA-compliant report,” the release said. It is stated in.
Vihari had shared a copy of his statement, signed by other players of the Andhra team, on his X account with the line: “The whole team knows (what happened that day).” .
“The sad thing is that the association thinks that the players have to listen to everything they say, and the players are here because of them (the association). So I decided not to play again.”
Vihari posted on Instagram: “I love my team. I love seeing them grow each season, but the association doesn't want us to grow.''
At the time, Vihari had attributed his decision to step away from coaching to “personal reasons”, but the right-handed batsman has now said that he has been asked to resign by the association.
“I was captain in the first match against Bengal and during that match I yelled at player number 17 and he complained to his father (a politician), who in turn told the association to complain. requested that measures be taken.
“I was asked to resign as captain even though there was no fault of my own. I never said anything personal against the players,” Vihari said.
However, ACA said the decision to appoint a new captain was taken considering the possibility that Vihari would be absent as he is a candidate to represent India.
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