India vs England | I called Rahul Dravid the day before I made my debut, reveals Hanuma Vihari
India’s 292nd Test player - Hanuma Vihari has spoken about his pre-debut nerves as he revealed that he called up Rahul Dravid the night before he turned up in the Indian whites in the fifth Test at the Oval. Vihari scored a hard-fought 56 as India registered a total of 292 in the first innings.
The Virat Kohli-led team are battling hard in the fifth and final Test of the five-match Test series against England. After getting English batsmen in trouble early on,
India got off to a horrendous start as Shikhar Dhawan was sent back to the pavilion in no time but Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara kept the visitors in the game. Hanuma Vihari also chipped in with a
"I got to know the day before the match. Obviously, I was very thrilled. Because that was my dream, growing up playing cricket. I first informed my family about it and they were very very happy as well.
"I called him the day before I made my debut and told him I was making my debut. He spoke to me for a couple of minutes and gave his inputs and I thought it eased my nerves a little bit because it's coming from a legend and you know that you belong here. He just told me that you have the skill set, you have the mindset and the temperament, just go out there and enjoy yourself," Vihari, who scored 56, said at the end of third day's play on Sunday.
Vihari, who survived a few nervy seconds after he came onto the crease to bat on day two, settled in well and remained not out overnight along with Ravindra Jadeja, who was also playing his first match of the series. Vihari added that batting along with 29-year old captain Virat Kohli helped him calm down and focus better.
"Initially I felt the pressure, to be honest, going in yesterday [Day 2], cloudy conditions and Stuart Broad and Anderson bowling at you.
"Initially, as I said, I had nerves. With that, I wasn't good with my decision making. But having Virat at the other end made my job a little easier, I guess. His inputs helped me initially. He's been playing very confidently throughout the series and his confidence boosted me at the other end. I will give a lot of credit to him for helping me out yesterday initially. But once I settled down, the wicket was very good to bat on especially with the medium pacers it got a lot slower yesterday. I got myself in and tried to capitalise as much as I could," Vihari added.
