Murali Vijay came into national reckoning in the 2008 home series against Australia. His chance came as a result of a one-match ban on Gautam Gambhir. He was presented with consistent opportunites only five years later, starting from Australia’s tour in 2013 in which he impressed with his appetite for big scores.
The year ahead saw the making and evolution of Vijay as a Test opener for India. He has grown in leaps and bounds since. He has played some Ground Breaking innings over the last one year, the 97 at Durban, followed by his first overseas ton at Nottingham and a 95 at Lords which was equivalent of double hundred considering the conditions he encountered are the few that spring to mind. He hopes to carry the confidence attained on the England tour into Australia and if the first innings at Adelaide was an indication, Indian fans will entertained thoroughly this winter. Although he was disappointed at having failed to convert a promising start into something more substantial in the first innings of the first Test in Adelaide against Australia, he was quoted by as saying on bcci.tv, the official website of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
"I started off really well and I was set to get a big one. But two overs before lunch there was a lapse in concentration. That’s one thing I have to work on. Hopefully this start will help us a team and me individually to move forward in a positive way," said Murali Vijay to CricketCountry.com.
Vijay believes that the transition from playing on docile wickets at home to the venomous ones in countries such as Australia is mental more that technical. He and the team are striving towards consistently applying themselves in the middle so as to sustain performances overseas through the course of an entire series,
"I think more than technical it is about being mentally prepared. We all really want to do well abroad. We have done it well in patches in the last year or so but haven’t been able to do it consistently enough to win the series. So, before coming here and leading up to the series not only me but everyone in the team worked on our mindset to be able to handle the bounce and cope with the conditions."
Vijay felt that he went into a shell on the brink of lunch rather than playing instinctively as he had done before, which contributed to his downfall,
"It didn’t affect my footwork as such. I was consciously looking to play out till lunch and went into a defensive mindset. That’s one thing I have to be careful about in the future. I should have continued to play the way I was playing rather than getting into that mode."
Vijay also talked about the pleasure of scoring his first overseas hundred at Nottingham earlier this year,
"It was a real big deal for me to go to England and do well because I was a little upset when I missed out the last time. Playing Test cricket in England and here in Australia is in itself a special feeling and scoring runs for the team adds so much more to the whole experience."
The opener also stressed upon the fact that an ugly hundred is worth more to the team than a flamboyant but shor lived 25. From his experiences of South Africa and New Zealand he leant how to curb his natural instincts when the situation and conditions demanded so. In fact he goes on to say that an innings played out of character is most satisfying,
"What I’ve learned in the last eight-nine months is that you cannot always play by instincts. I’ve realized that as an opening batsman, I cannot say, ‘Okay, this is how I know how to play and I will stick to it’. It might work for someone but for me it doesn’t. I’ve just got to curb my instincts and be prepared to play out of my character. I learned that lesson in South Africa and then did well in New Zealand. I put all that experience in use when we went to England. We went their early and I had the time to figure out what would work for me in these conditions. The century (146) at Trent Bridge strengthened my confidence a great deal. It told me that I can play out of character and score runs for the team. It is especially satisfying to successfully do something that doesn’t come naturally to you."
Vijay recognises that as an opening batsman he is expected to score heavily at the top. To achieve that goal he has found an ideal balance between attack and defence. He feels at the top of his game at this stage of his career and wants optimise what could be his peak as a batsman.
"It was. In the last two Tests at home against West Indies, I scored stroke-filled 20s and 40s. When I am in that zone, I can hit any ball, but I somehow got out. When you throw your wicket away like that after getting a start, it puts pressure on any batsman, but especially so if you are an opening batsman because you are expected to get big scores at the top," he said
"Questions begin to get raised if you should be picked for the next series and it feels really bad to be in that position. At some point, it makes you question yourself. Then you start worrying about your place in the side and insecurity creeps in. You start going into your shell, start thinking too much and go into a totally defensive mode with the bat. That makes things worse." added the batsman
“I decided the only way for me to get out of that place was to cement my place in the team. For that the key was to find the right balance between playing my natural game and making the necessary alterations in temperament to suit my role in the team. I am in a good space right now and the next goal is to maintain that balance and score those big hundreds like I have done at the domestic level.” he also said.
When one’s played a substantial number of innings of substance, comparisons are inevitable as to the value of those innings. Vijay rates the 95 at Lords as one of the most special innings he’s played for India considering the state of the match and the unique challenge of typical English conditions that India encountered in that match as opposed to the 97 in Durban which was played on a surface vaguely reminiscent of the ones back home.
"Both were tremendous confidence boosters. In Durban I was under the pump and really wanted to come good. I batted really well at Johannesburg and that gave me confidence going into the Durban Test. The ball was reversing in Durban and it helped that I play a lot of reverse swing back home at the domestic level. Lord’s was different. We had lost a couple of wickets and the situation was tricky. I told myself, ‘this is my big chance to do something special for the team; get the team out of the jail’. It was wonderful that I could do it." said the opener.
Although missing out on hundreds at Durban and Lords was disappointing he doesn’t feel his dismissals had anything to do with the score he was batting on,
"I don’t get too worried about getting out in the nineties if get out to a good ball. In Durban, Steyn was in the middle of a tremendous spell and I just wanted to get through it. But suddenly one ball came back at me and kicked in. At Lord’s I wanted to ensure I stayed at the wicket until the new ball came, which I did. But I couldn’t stay on to play the new ball. I played a little away from the body, trying to push the ball to covers for a couple of runs and keep the momentum going. Maybe I could have left it but I thought it was a pretty good one nipping off the wicket."
Vijay emphasises that in order to kick on from the attractive 30’s and 40’s that he was being associated with, he has had to work on his shot selection, which is essentially a mental aspect of the game as its rate of success depends upon one’s mental discipline.
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