I treat every Test as my last, says Hanuma Vihari

Agencies
September 6, 2019

New Delhi, Sept 6: Cricketers often talk about how a sense of security helps their performance but not Hanuma Vihari, who believes in treating every Test match as "his last" because it helps him be on guard against complacency.

The 25-year-old Andhra batsman emerged as the top run-getter with 291 runs in India's 2-0 series win over the West Indies and vindicated the team management's decision to have him instead of the more stylish Rohit Sharma in the playing XI.

"Obviously I am very happy that I have done well but I went into this tour with a clean slate. I decided to take one Test match at a time. For me, every Test match is my last. It helps me get into a mindset that I have nothing to lose and play accordingly," Vihari told news agency in an interview.

Recently, Virat Kohli complimented Vihari for his temperament, which the skipper feels infuses a sense of calm in the dressing room. He called Vihari the find of the West Indies tour.

"You can't ask for anything more if the change room has faith in your abilities. That is certainly the best compliment I could have got and coming from the skipper himself, it can't get better," said Vihari, who now has 456 runs in six Tests, including a hundred and three fifties.

But the calm demeanour and steely resolve hasn't come in a day or two but around seven years of toiling in the domestic arena.

"It has happened because of the years of hard work that I put in at the domestic level. Before playing for India, I had played nearly 60 first-class games.

"I have faced pressure situations at the first-class level. It prepared me for bigger challenges. Thanks to the Andhra Cricket Association and (chairman of selectors) MSK Prasad sir for giving me a chance to play for Andhra," said Vihari, whose first-class average of 60.30 after 75 games, is among the top-10 of all time.

He feels the USP of his nascent but impressive international career so far has been his ability to take up challenges head on.

"Opening the batting in Australia was more about my mindset. I wasn't a natural opener and that was the biggest challenge," said Vihari, about opening in Melbourne, where he blunted Australia's new-ball attack, allowing Cheteshwar Pujara to consolidate.

"So either I could have just sat and sulked that I am being asked to bat in an unfamiliar position or just accept the challenge and make the best use of the opportunity that I was being given. I decided on the second option" he recalled.

When most of his illustrious colleagues were playing in the World Cup, Vihari was quietly preparing for the West Indies tour doing his homework. In fact, he reached earlier, led the India A side and scored a hundred under pressure (same innings where Shubman Gill scored a double) against Windies A.

"I would say the India A series helped but there is a significant gap between A level and international cricket, just like the gap is even bigger if you take domestic cricket into account," he said.

"The pitch and conditions for the A games were very different from the Test matches. In Coolidge (Antigua), it was much easier to bat on compared to St John's. Even Sabina Park was a tricky wicket. It needed a different approach," Vihari added.

He hails from Hyderabad, but Vihari's style of batting is quite orthodox, compared to illustrious predecessors like Mohammed Azharuddin and VVS Laxman.

"I always believed in developing a compact defensive game. If your defensive technique is in place, the bowlers at international level will find it difficult to dislodge you. Just being aggressive will always give bowlers a chance," he explained.

Primarily a front-foot player during his initial days in first-class cricket, the hallmark of his game has been solid back-foot play.

"I have worked on my back-foot game which is a must in international cricket. On bouncy tracks, a good back-foot game helps," he said.

Having reached Hyderabad on Friday morning, Vihari wants to take a week's rest, before getting back to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for training in Bengaluru.

Asked if he will play in the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Andhra, he said: "I haven't yet checked the schedule. If the Test team is announced before the start of Hazare Trophy, I might not play as it won't make much sense playing white-ball cricket if I have to play Test matches."

Life hasn't exactly been a bed of roses for Vihari, who lost his father at the age of 12 but he is grateful for the hard lessons he learnt early on.

"I was only 12 years old and my elder sister was 14 when we lost our father. My mother Vijayalakshmi is a homemaker. Those were hard days," he remembered.

"My mother ran the household on my father's pension. Yet, she allowed me to pursue my dreams and not for once did me or my sister feel that we lacked comfort. I still can't figure out how she even managed," he got a touch emotional.

But things have changed since he established himself as a first-class player, had his time in IPL and is now slowly making a mark in international cricket.

"Now I have built a house in Hyderabad. I want my mother to relax," he said.

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News Network
April 2,2020

New Delhi, Apr 2: It was on April 2, 2011, when the Men in Blue went on to win their second 50-over World Cup title.

India won its first World Cup in 1983 and then had to wait for 28 years to again lift the title.
Going into the 2011 tournament, India went in as the clear favourites as the competition was to be played in the sub-continent.

Under MS Dhoni's leadership, India lost just one match in the competition against South Africa.
India had defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in the semi-final to set up a summit clash with Sri Lanka.

In the finals, Sri Lanka won the toss and opted to bat first. Mahela Jayawardene top-scored for Sri Lanka as he struck a century to take the team's score to 274/6.

India in their chase got off to a bad start as the side lost Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag with just 31 runs on the board.

But Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni stepped up and stitched a match-winning 109-run partnership.

Gambhir perished after playing a knock of 97 runs, but in the end, Dhoni and Yuvraj took the team over the line by six wickets.

The winning six struck by Dhoni is still viewed as one of the most exciting moments in India's sporting history. 

As the winning six was hit, Ravi Shastri was doing commentary then, and he famously remarked, "Dhoni, finishes it off in style, India lifts the World Cup after 28 years".
As soon as the match-winning shot was hit, Tendulkar erupted with joy and had tears to see his dream finally being fulfilled.

Earlier this year, former Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the 2011 World Cup win, titled 'Carried On the Shoulders Of A Nation', was voted the greatest Laureus Sporting Moment of the last twenty years.

The lap after the World Cup is still edged into everyone's hearts.

Playing in his last mega 50-over tournament, it was the last chance for Tendulkar to lift the coveted trophy.

Before the 2011 World Cup, Tendulkar had played five tournaments (1992,1996,1999,2003 and 2007), and he fell short every time.

The closest he came to winning the trophy was in 2003 as India made the finals under the leadership of Sourav Ganguly.

But the Men in Blue fell short in the finals against Australia.

Then in 2007, the biggest setback was in store for the legend has India bowed out of the tournament in the group stages.

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News Network
April 24,2020

New Delhi, Apr 24: Veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh said he doesn't think Mahendra Singh Dhoni will play for India again, adding to the guessing game over the future of the superstar former captain.

Dhoni, 38, has not appeared for club or country since last year's 50-over World Cup and India's coronavirus lockdown could threaten his chances of getting back into the national team.

The Indian Premier League, the main platform before this year's scheduled T20 World Cup, is likely to be truncated or cancelled because of the pandemic.

Harbhajan, who plays with Dhoni at IPL side Chennai Super Kings, said international retirement was on the cards for Dhoni and that he was increasingly being asked about his teammate.

"It's up to him. You need to know whether he wants to play for India again," Harbhajan said in an online forum.

"As far as I know him, he won't want to wear India's blue jersey again. IPL he will play, but for India I think he had decided the (2019) World Cup was his last."

Dhoni, who gave up Test cricket in 2014, started training for the Super Kings in March but has not commented on his international future.

Dhoni led India to win the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in 2007. He hit a six to seal the 2011 World Cup final victory and, along with it, his status as a national hero. He has amassed 10,773 runs from 350 ODIs.

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News Network
January 3,2020

Jeddah, Jan 3: Spanish driver Fernando Alonso is aiming to create history as the first Formula One world champion to win the Dakar Rally when the 12-day marathon gets underway in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

Alonso, who won the F1 championship with Renault in 2005 and 2006, is one of 351 starters in this year's 7,500 km race which has moved from South America to Saudi Arabia, both venues a long way from the original 1979 route between Paris and the Senegalese capital Dakar.

Among the starters will be motorbikes, quad bikes and trucks but Alonso, who will have five-time bike champion Marc Coma navigating his Toyota, will be in the car category as he bids to become one of the greatest all-round drivers of all time.

Apart from his success in F1, the 38-year-old Spaniard has also won the Le Mans 24-hour race and has singled out the Indianapolis 500 as his priority for 2020. He describes Dakar as “the biggest challenge of my career”.

Alonso is not the first F1 driver to take part in the race, however.

The Belgian Jacky Ickx, a winner of eight grand prix and six-time winner of Le Mans, won Dakar in 1983 and came second in 1986 and 1989. Frenchman Patrick Tambay, who had two wins in his 114 grand prix, came third in 1988 and 1989.

Given the treacherous conditions--long stretches of sand dunes--Alonso is not overly confident of challenging for victory, noting that even the nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb was unable to deliver when he raced the Dakar. Loeb won 13 stages but could only finish second in 2017 and third in 2019.

“If Loeb still hasn't won the Dakar, imagine me, who is coming from asphalt,” Alonso told RTVE. “I think the goal is more to approach the rally as an enriching experience for us.”

Fellow Toyota driver Nasser Al-Attiyah is a more likely candidate, not least because the Qatari is a three-time winner and reigning champion.

"Give me some sand and I'm happy," Al-Attiyah told dakar.com.

He will be pressed, however, by the Minis of Carlos Sainz and 'Monsieur Dakar' aka Stephane Peterhansel who has won 13 Dakars across bikes and cars in 30 races.

“We are obviously very excited about the Dakar in Saudi Arabia. It will be a new challenge for everyone,” said Peterhansel who will be partnered by Paulo Fiuza after the Frenchman's wife Andrea pulled out for health reasons.

“Unfortunately, it is not possible to contest the rally with Andrea, as was planned, however I have known Paulo Fiuza for a very long time. According to the organisers, the navigation will be very complicated and play a major role this time.”

Cyril Despres, a five-time winner on bikes, is also back with a new teammate -- explorer Mike Horn.

“I was stuck in the ice for a month, and now I'm heading to Jeddah. For the first time, the Dakar Rally is in Saudi Arabia and I'm doing it with a very good friend of mine, Cyril Despres,” tweeted Horn whose adventures include an 18-month solo journey around the equator without using any motorised transport.

Horn is also the first man to travel without dogs or transport to the North Pole during winter, in permanent darkness.

Across the dunes of Saudi Arabia that experience may come in handy.

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