In his early Test career, Hanuma Vihari has impressed with his strong batting performances. The legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar also likes his batting style.
The 25-year-old Hanuma Vihari made his Test debut in September 2018 during The Oval Test against England. He has got very limited opportunities, mostly as a middle-order batsman, but has shown very strong character.
The right-handed batsman has played six Tests before the beginning of the ongoing home Test series against South Africa. In his first 11 Test innings, Vihari has scored 456 runs with an average of 45.60. He has already hit one century and three half-centuries in Test career.
Hanuma Vihari recently performed successfully during the away Test series against Windies. At the end of that two-match Test series, Vihari finished as the leading run-scorer while he scored 286 runs in four innings (average 96.33). In that series, he scored 32, 93, 111 and 53* runs respectively. His batting has impressed many cricket experts, including Sachin Tendulkar.
Talking about Hanuma Vihari’s batting, Tendulkar pointed out his impressive temperament in batting.
Tendulkar recently told PTI, “You need to play Test cricket differently and real skill is tested on good bowler-friendly tracks and he has gone out and shown an ideal temperament.”
Hanuma Vihari has been smart in selecting right shots to play at the right time – Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar has praised Hanuma Vihari for playing the right shots at the right time. Apart from his calmness and temperament, Tendulkar also likes his ability to absorb pressure in Test cricket.
The legend added, “Vihari has been smart in selecting right shots to play at the right time. I have been impressed by his calmness, temperament as well as the ability to absorb pressure. In Test cricket, various aspects are going to be tested and if you are sure of those things, your body language is different, which I saw in him.”
Hanuma Vihari has impressive batting averages in the first-class and List A cricket. He has scored 6,272 runs in 75 first-class matches (average 60.30) and 2,868 runs in 72 List A games (average 46.25). In October 2017, during a Ranji Trophy game against Odisha, Andhra cricketer Vihari played his best first-class knock of 302*.
Vihari has also played 73 T20Is where he has scored 1,309 runs with an average of 20.13.
He is also a handy off-spinner. While he has taken five Test wickets, he has managed 26 first-class wickets, 19 List A wickets and 22 T20 wickets.