'Play As Late As Possible': Hanuma Vihari Reveals 'The Biggest Challenge' While Playing In England

Batting in England is not something one can do with eyes shut considering how the conditions favor the bowlers with Dukes ball swinging and seaming. It needs a bit of experience and a solid technique to survive and score runs. 

Indian team is touring England in which they not only play a five-match test series with the hosts but will be facing New Zealand in the inaugural World Test Championship(WTC) Final as well. The match will be played at Southampton where conditions are expected to be favorable for the fast bowlers. 

Playing a test match, especially a big game like WTC Final, the teams need to play their most experienced and best players. 
Hanuma Vihari, India's middle-order batter, has been in England for more than two months now, acclimatizing to the conditions on offer and gaining experience by playing County cricket for Warwickshire. 

Vihari made his test debut for India in England back in 2018 and instantly figured out how different things are here in comparison with what is offered back home. He said that the dukes ball and weather conditions are the biggest challenge here. 

"Definitely, that's the challenge here. The overhead conditions play a part as well because when it is sunny, it gets a bit easier to bat, but when it is overcast, the ball moves all day. That was the challenge I faced early on in this season of county cricket -- because it was quite cold and the ball was doing a lot off the wicket," he told ESPNCricinfo.

The middle-order batter got out for a 23-ball duck on his county debut and faced the likes of England's premier fast bowler Stuart Broad in that game. He explained how the change in conditions played a role in his poor outing on debut. 

"I thought it was full enough for me to drive, but again, in England, you have to be really certain with your shot selection. In India, you can get away with a push, or even if it is not there to drive, you can still get away driving on the up. If I were to play that ball a second time, I would try to play as late as possible."

"Having said that, it was just my first innings in county cricket. I learned that I should play much later. In the second match, against Essex, I got 30 and 50. Essex are the defending champions and have a decent bowling attack with Peter Siddle and Simon Harmer. I thought I batted well, but I should have converted it into a bigger score," he concluded.