NEW DELHI: India Test batsman Hanuma Vihari will lead Andhra in this month’s Vijay Hazare Trophy limited overs tournament and Ricky Bhui will serve as his deputy, Andhra Cricket Association (ACA) announced on Thursday.
Vihari, who played a crucial role alongside Ravichandran Ashwin in India securing an hourable draw against Australia in Sydney last month, is not part of the national squad for the first two Tests against England due to a hamstring injury.
“He is recovering very fast, but is still not 100 per cent fit. Just in case he is unable to become match-fit by February 20, when the tournament starts, someone else will step into his place as part of our Plan B,” an ACA source told IANS.
The 50-over tournament will be played across six cities — Surat, Indore, Bengaluru, Jaipur, Kolkata and Chennai — from February 20 to March 14.
Andhra Pradesh are placed in Elite Group B alongside Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Vidarbha and will be playing all their league matches in Indore.
The league phase of the tournament is scheduled to take place from February 20 until March 1.
The knockout stages will start with a pre-quarterfinal on March 7 followed by quarterfinals on March 8 and 9. The semi-finals will be taking place on March 11 and the final will be held on March 14.
Squad: Hanuma Vihari (captain), Ricky Bhui (vice-captain), Ch Kranti Kumar, K Aswin Hebbar, CR Gnaneswar, Maheep Kumar, K Karan Shinde, UMS Girinath (wicketkeeper), P Girinath Reddy, Shoaib M. Khan, S Ashish, KV Sasikanth, Ch Stephen, I karthik Raman, S Dhruv Kumar Reddy, G Manish, D Naren Reddy, K Nitish Kumar Reddy, M Harishankar Reddy, S Charan Saiteja, S Tarun (wicketkeeper), and B Santosh