The Middle-order batter Hanuma Vihari has stepped down from Andhra captaincy and Ricky Bhui will lead the side for the rest of the Ranji Trophy 2024 season.
Vihari Steps down from Andhra Captaincy
Hanuma Vihari has stepped down from Captaincy after their side tied the match against Bengal in their home-ground opening match. He will be part of the playing 11, taking on Mumbai on January 12.
Ricky Bhui was impressive during the match against Bengal as he scored 175 runs with his 15th century in first class where Vihari scored only 51 runs for Andhra.
Vihari played for India against England in Birmingham in 2022. He captained the Andhra side on the last season, where they suffered a defeat against Madhya Pradesh in the quarter-finals match.
Vihari batted left-handed for a major part of the first innings and throughout the second innings after fracturing his left forearm. He scored 490 runs in the last season in 14 innings, with an average of 35 with two half-centuries.
Before the start of this season, Vihari was mulling a move to Madhya Pradesh to play under the domestic coach Chandrakant Pandit to rekindle his Test career.
But Andhra retained him at the last minute and he scored 220 runs with a strike rate of 149.67 in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and 109 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
He went unsold in the IPL 2024 auction last month on December 19 in Dubai. Bhui has captained Andhra 22 times in the Past across formats and on five occasions in the Ranji Trophy. He captained the side last time during the match against Uttarakhand in March 2022.
Andhra and Mumbai are set to play in the Ranji Trophy 2024 match on January 12 where Andhra Pradesh chose to bowl at MCA Cricket Ground.
