IND vs NZ | Prepared to bat anywhere, reveals Hanuma Vihari

Hanuma Vihari on Friday revealed that he is well-prepared to bat anywhere in the pecking order against New Zealand in the First Test of the two-Test series. The right-hander also revealed that the conditions in the New Zealand A game were surprising as there was extra bounce in the wicket.

The 26-year-old Indian batsman admitted that he is prepared to bat anywhere in the lineup against New Zealand for the First Test. After the Indian openers struggled in the Test, with one run scored in between the three openers – Prithivi Shaw, Shubhman Gill and Mayank Agarwal – reports suggested that the management could turn towards the right-hander to take the mantle. 

Coming in at No.6 against New Zealand A ahead of the series, the right-hander scored a brilliant hundred, etching a match-saving partnership alongside Cheteshwar Pujara. In the past, the right-hander has opened the Test for the Indian team, scoring 21 runs in two innings against Australia in Melbourne. However, since then, the management has slotted Vihari at No.6, where he has scored a bulk of his runs. In the nine innings that he has played, Vihari has scored 435 runs, including a high score of 111. 

“As a player, I am prepared to bat anywhere. As of now, I’ve not been informed anything. As I said before as well, if the team requires me to bat wherever, I am ready to bat,” said Vihari, reported Indian Express. 

“Sometimes you have to understand the team combination as well. You can’t get disheartened by it. I understood when you are playing at home, we play five bowlers. It’s obvious that one batter has to miss out. So I took it in my stride. I don’t want to prove anything to anyone but just follow the process,” Vihari added.

With the openers struggling, the management could very well go to the right-hander after his partnership with Pujara. The duo scored 101 and 91 respectively in the ongoing encounter against New Zealand ‘A’ and Vihari added that the bounce surprised the duo during their stay at the crease. 

“Initially, I thought the extra bounce surprised us. (In) the couple of matches I played against New Zealand A, the pitch didn’t do as much as what it did in the morning today. Once we adjusted, me and Puji (Pujara), we got our eye in, then we knew we had to bat long and that’s exactly what we did,” he concluded.