Hanuma Vihari accepts making a return to Indian team is tough

Vihari has been out of the Indian team since appearing against England at Birmingham in last July

Bengaluru: Middle-order batter Hanuma Vihari on Tuesday accepted that making a return to the Indian team is tough, and getting dropped at times could affect a player’s mindset.

Vihari has been out of the Indian team since appearing against England at Birmingham in last July.

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“Once you are dropped or left aside from the Indian team, it is tough to make a comeback. It affects your mindset. I went through that last season,” said Vihari ahead of South Zone’s Duleep Trophy semifinal match against North Zone, starting here on Wednesday.

However, hopes have not faded for him. Vihari drew inspiration from Ajinkya Rahane, who recently made a comeback to the Indian side.

“You will want to come back until you retire. Even though I’m 29, I still have it in me. You’ve seen Ajinkya Rahane make a comeback at 35,” he said.

“I feel I still have a long way to go and have a lot to contribute to the Indian side, especially in Test cricket.” The Hyderabad-born batter said he will have to grind it out in the domestic season to force open the door of India team again.

“This season, I want to keep everything aside and focus on my batting and get better at my skills. Whenever I got a chance, I thought I did well. Maybe my best was not good enough for the Indian team. I’ll try to keep getting better,” he said.

Vihari was candid enough to admit that making a return to the Indian side through the IPL would be tough for him.

“IPL is something I don’t have an opportunity to make an impact on and I only have the domestic season. So, I have to grind it out in the domestic season,” said Vihari.

But Vihari was strongly against branding him as a one format player.

“People have branded me as a Test player but it is unfair. If you see my IPL journey, I’ve done well when I was 19, 20. Although I’ve grown as a white-ball player, I haven’t got much opportunities.

“It is unfair to brand players, a quality player can play all three formats. Going forward I want to play all formats.”