Hanuma Vihari credits Virat Kohli for his priceless inputs

Hanuma Vihari impressed one and all in his maiden appearance for India as he scored 56 runs from 124 deliveries with the help of seven boundaries and a six. He was drafted in place of Hardik Pandya in the fifth Test against England at Kennington Oval in London and he didn’t flatter to deceive. His 77-run partnership with Ravindra Jadeja also helped his team’s cause.

He came to bat under overcast conditions after James Anderson nipped out Ajinkya Rahane. However, in the initial part of his knock, he suffered a massive scare when he was adjudged LBW, but the DRS came to his rescue. Most importantly, the 24-year-old had Indian captain Virat Kohli at the other end and Vihari mentioned his inputs to have worked wonders for him.

He’s been playing very confidently throughout the series

“Initially I felt the pressure, to be honest, going in yesterday, cloudy conditions and Stuart Broad and (James) Anderson bowling at you. Initially, as I said, I had nerves. With that, I wasn’t good with my decision making. But having Virat [Kohli] at the other end made my job a little easier, I guess. His inputs helped me initially,” Vihari was quoted as saying in Cricbuzz

“He’s been playing very confidently throughout the series and his confidence boosted me at the other end. I will give a lot of credit to him for helping me out yesterday initially. But once I settled down, the wicket was very good to bat on especially with the medium pacers it got a lot slower yesterday. I got myself in and tried to capitalise as much as I could,” he added.

Earlier, Vihari became the first player from Andhra Pradesh since MSK Prasad, the national selector, to don the Indian national colours. He had an exceptional domestic stint on the backs of which he got his maiden Indian call-up.  He also played well for India ‘A’ in their first-class and List A matches against England Lions, Windies ‘A’ and South Africa ‘A’.

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