Delhi: In 2023, news came that Ajinkya Rahane’s story has completely alive the desire for Team India to play again inside Hanuma Vihari. Nothing happened. Now Karun Nair’s story is encouraging him. If Karun Nair can come to the Test team in 2025, after playing the Test for the last time in 2017, then he played in 2022 for the last time. By the way, Vihari has not understood till date why he was suddenly dropped out of the Test team?

Test 100 on Caribbean Tour also made 100

He feels that he is still no less than anyone in red ball cricket. Test debut in 2018 and also made Test 100 on Caribbean Tour in 2019. Despite this, the debut has started for seven years and there is not only 16 Tests in his account and not one in the last three years. Even when Cheteshwar Pujara was dropped in the domestic series against Sri Lanka, Vihari played at number 3, scored 58, 31, 35, 20 and 11, but the selectors not only removed from this number after this, even removed it from the team that he could not return.

Won Tests for less than 3 days

Two of these innings were on a turning pitch in Bengaluru where India won the Test for less than 3 days. Two innings were on the Edgbaston Test against England in July 2022 where the seam and swing were finding it very difficult to play. In this test, the necklace of defeat fell only on Vihari. Has not played for India since that test. All this forgot that one and a half years before that Edgbaston Test, in January 2021, Vihari had probably made the most famous 23* in Indian Test history and made a draw for the team.

407 run target

In Sydney, Australia gave India a target of 407 runs and in response, Vihari and R Ashwin added 62 runs in 42.4 overs with a score of 272-5. Vihari scored 23 runs, 161 balls in four hours. With this draw, in the last Test in Brisbane, the team played on par and with a magical win, India won the series. Vihari was injured so he did not play in this last test.

839 runs with five 50 and one 100

Total records: Five 50 runs in 28 innings and 839 runs with one 100. In his first 28 Test innings for India, Yuvraj Singh, Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni, Navjot Sidhu, Dilip Vengsarkar and VVS Laxman scored less runs than him. So it is natural for Vihari to think about what is his fault and why he did not give him a chance to play anymore?

Okay, learned to compromise with the situation, but who can play top cricket with a fallen morale? He kept playing domestic cricket and now believes that it is always difficult to return. He said, ‘Once you get out, it also affects mentally, affects the mindset and I am going through it.’

Ajinkya Rahane’s return

Even then, try to get full attention on his batting and be better, but did not play like Karun Nair. Perhaps it is difficult to get inspiration after being dropped from the team. That is why first took inspiration from the return story of Ajinkya Rahane and now from the return story of Karun Nair. They say that there was no answer to the question that ‘whenever he got a chance, he performed his best but still dropped out of the team. Did not even give so much opportunity to say that shown better.

Unsold in IPL

They will not give up hope till retiring, while Sunil Gavaskar believes that his most damage was done in the IPL. No IPL matches have been played since 2019 and 284 runs from 88.47 strike rate in record 24 matches and since then unsold in IPL. The label of a ‘Test player’ felt that they could not change the thinking. Today, without coming in the news of IPL, it does not actually work.

They still think what happened 32 years, they still have a chance for both IPL and Team India. Will they be able to write a return story?