Hanuma Vihari’s batting style depicts resilience, backed by a solid mentality. Not everyone in the world can adapt to the Test level as quickly as the Hyderabad batsman has in the last couple of seasons.
However, there is a serious backstory in his personal life which causes the reflection in his batting approach of scoring the hard runs.
Since childhood, Vihari was earmarked to play international cricket for India amongst the people in his locality. Eyeing his growth in the field, his parents made big plans for nurturing his talent before calamity struck at the age of 12, when his father, Satyanarayana, passed away.
Normal circumstances would dictate Vihari’s mother shelving the dream of becoming cricketer, in order to pursue a secure profession. But, Vihari’s mother braved up and backed her son to keep pursuing his cricketing dreams.
“The one thing that defines my mother is her daring. She is never scared. You could say it’s the hallmark of her identity,” Hanuma opened up in Cricbuzz’s show Spicy Pitch.
“I received a lump sum from my husband’s company as compensation after he died. Around that time, Hanuma had just played U-13 cricket and hadn’t performed well. I knew that he needed more time to practice than he was getting at nets,” Hanuma‘s mother, Vijaylakshi, added.
“So, I decided to use the lump sum to build a cricket pitch for him. The next time he played at the U-13 state level, he was the highest run-getter in the tournament. That’s when I knew my effort had paid off,” she continued.
Despite all hurdles, Hanuma’s mother believed in her son’s abilities to the fullest and called her efforts simply as her duty. “I don’t look at anything as a sacrifice. It was simply my responsibility,” she concluded.
