Warwickshire County Cricket Club on Thursday announced about signing Indian middle-order batsman Hanuma Vihari who will be featuring in the early rounds of LV= Insurance County Championship.
The 27-year-old Indian Test cricketer will be covering for South Africa’s Pieter Malan, after the latter ran in difficulties for obtaining his Visa after South Africa was categorized under the ‘red list’ as per the UK government. The Indian batsman is already in the United Kingdom. He will have to undergo six days of quarantine in accordance with the County Cricket guidelines. Vihari is also likely to play in the next week’s County Championship game against Nottinghamshire, provided he tests negative for Covid-19.
Having made his international test debut in 2018 against England, the valuable middle-order batsman has amassed 7,094 runs in 90 first-class games and boasts an incredible average of 56.75. Apart from his incredible batting stats in domestic cricket, he has chipped in with 27 wickets in first-class cricket. For India, Vihari has scored four fifties and a hundred in just 12 tests. Warwickshire’s Director of Cricket Paul Farbrace praised the Indian batsman as he will be looking forward to Vihari adding value to the club.
“He’s a high-quality batsman, and an effective off-spinner, who has been part of two India Test series victories in Australia. But he also comes to Warwickshire with an outstanding record in the First Class game and our young batsman are going to learn a huge amount from playing and training with someone of Hanuma’s calibre.”
Farbrace also expresses his gratitude towards the player for stepping in at such short notice to cover for their original choice batsman, Pieter Malan. Meanwhile, Vihari will be expected by the BCCI to gain experience from upcoming the county stint, which will prove to be beneficial ahead of the World Test Championship final that is set to be played in Southampton after the IPL 2021. The WTC final will be followed by India’s five-Test tour of England.