‘You up next’, patted the coach on his shoulders, wishing him all the best. Vihari looked up, he saw Rahane walking towards the dressing room. Not the ideal situation to go in to bat, but he had to. He was waiting for this for quite a long time now. For years. As Rahane goes past him, he thinks of the time he was not selected in the IPL and how he went to watch Rahane scoring a ton in the same place. He remembers how much things have changed. Let’s do it, he says, walks in to join Virat Kohli.
He was visibly nervous. He had to take on Broad and Anderson on a cloudy day. Things were working against him. Some people were questioning his selection. He tells himself to prove them wrong. A few deliveries later, Broad got him plumb in front. The umpires shake the head and England decide against reviewing. A moment of a sigh. A moment of a second chance.
Vihari knows the importance of second chances. Even during his under 19 times, Vihari did not make it to the World Cup squad initially, but an injury to Vohra helped him at that time. Vihari knows how important it is.
While Broad and Anderson were fighting hard against each other to remove Vihari, he held on. With some assistance from the captain Kohli, Vihari survived the day. The next day was easier for the man, who made his first fifty.
Soon against Australia, he was asked to open, and Vihari was ready for the job. He made 8 from 66. Scores mislead you here. He was out there tackling some excellent bowling from the Australians. His initial batting made things easy for Pujara as appreciated by Kohli.
Too early into the career, Vihari has left his mark in the team already with his batting. Maybe, he has not scored a lot, but in almost every single innings, India improved a lot when Vihari was batting.
Maybe, because he knows the importance of taking the opportunities that comes his way. He was 12 when his father left him, and within five days Vihari was out there making a fifty+ score for his under-13 team. While people in his age was happy to make a fifty, he was grinding in, making 200. While the players nowadays love to hit the ball out of the stadium, Vihari used to practice leaving the deliveries more than 100 times. He was ready to face 1000 deliveries at a stretch. He was ready for his team and always loved making runs. If Pujara reminded of Dravid; Vihari can do a Laxman.
Vihari doesn’t belong to this so-called generation. He is someone whom you can meet at a coffee shop, The one who normally gets away easily without any stardom. The one whom you can see occasionally on social media. Someone who walks away when there is a fight. Someone who lives in his own world. Someone who loves the simple life, someone who can use his smile to getaway.
This is Vihari off the field but when he gets an opportunity, he doesn’t like to stop. He loves to kill the bowlers with his defence. Though he doesn’t wear his emotions on his sleeves, he likes to celebrate his knocks. A jump and fist pump, an acknowledgement doesn’t hurt, do they?
He is right-eye dominant and it is visible when he takes the stance. That’s the only unorthodoxy he adds to his batting. He stands still, moves to the fourth stump and pushes himself to a position where he can reach the ball all around the stumps, be it short or a full.
He likes to play through the midwicket and mid-on region but his straight drive is as glorious as Virat Kohli’s cover drive. Vihari cuts and drives well too at times, he does get carried away by the movement, but his secret weapon is that he plays the ball a bit late-much like Laxman-and also he plays it down, minimizing the chance of the edge carrying to the slips. He likes to take long strides at times to the spin too. Something, we don’t normally see it in Laxman. You can blame the influence of T20 cricket as well. A place where he is yet to do great things.
Of course, it is too early to write a lot about Vihari who has played just a few games for the team, but to me, Vihari has announced himself to seal a place in the current line-up.
