Hanuma Vihari to Play for Tripura in 2025-26 Season

New Delhi, Aug 26 (PTI) - Hanuma Vihari, best remembered for his resilient performance against Australia at the SCG in 2021 rather than his impressive 289 runs in the 2019 West Indies series, has chosen to switch from Andhra Pradesh to play for Tripura in the upcoming 2025-26 domestic season.

As reported by ESPNcricinfo, Vihari has inked a contract with Tripura to be one of their three professional players for the season. He has entered into a one-year agreement, with a possibility of extension upon mutual consent.

Vihari attributed his decision to a personal aspiration of participating in all three cricket formats, a vision he found implausible at Andhra following a fall-out with the state's cricket board post the 2023-24 Ranji campaign.

"I was keen on other opportunities since I believe I'm good enough to play all three formats," shared Vihari, now 31, with ESPNcricinfo.

He explained that Andhra leaned towards prioritizing younger talent for T20s, prompting him to sit out the Vijay Hazare Trophy for the 50-over game and seek a fresh environment altogether. Vihari, whose last Test for India was in 2022, had previously accused the state association of favoritism after the 2023-24 season and had been exploring avenues to relocate.

"For the last two seasons, I'd been discussing moving out. I was in talks with Madhya Pradesh, but I stayed back," Vihari remarked.

"Given my circumstances and where my cricket is currently, it felt like the right time to join an emerging team. They approached me first this year, and I saw it as a challenge worth taking," he added.

Vihari made a notable entry into Test cricket with a fifty against England at The Oval in 2018. He played a pivotal role with his 23-run unbeaten stint alongside R Ashwin to secure India a draw in the famous SCG 2021 Test, following a formidable target of 407. This effort was instrumental in India's historic series triumph, which culminated with a win in Brisbane.

Vihari now aims to offer significant contributions with the bat while aiding his new team in rising to challenge stronger opponents, though he has not been promised captaincy.

"As a senior player, I'll contribute whatever the team expects of me, from a leadership standpoint, whether I'm captain or not," Vihari expressed.

"There are some decent players in the team. I wanted to join a squad where I can help build and be a part of a setup striving to challenge bigger teams," he commented.

In his 16-Test career, Vihari has amassed 839 runs at an average of 33.56, with his highest being 111. His first-class statistics are stellar, with over 9500 runs in 131 matches, boasting an impressive average of 49.92 and a top score of 302, including 24 centuries.

(Only the headline of this report may have been reworked by Editorji; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)