Murali Vijay begins a whole new chapter

Sobriquets often stick. Don, Whispering Death, Beefy, Little Master, Master Blaster, The Wall — the list is long and old.

In cricketing circles, Murali Vijay is known as Monk. Some say it has got to do with his fondness for a particular brand of rum. But now-a-days, pundits credit his concentration powers for this moniker. Whatever the case may be, Vijay is well and truly India's numero uno opener. And the Tamil Nadu batsman seems poised to hold onto this position.

In the euphoria surrounding Virat Kohli, his twin hundreds as well as his refreshing approach to captaincy, we almost forgot Vijay's 152 runs at the Adelaide Oval. Fifty-three of those runs came in the first innings. Ninety-nine (damn!) in the second. These contributions went a long way in helping India press for an unlikely win. If not for those nervous moments in the 90s, he and Kohli would have surely taken India home with enough wickets and overs to spare. And like Kohli said, it was Vijay's dismissal, leg-before to Nathan Lyon, that altered the course of the match.

Over the past 12 months, Vijay has been one of India's most consistent batsmen in white flannels. In 10 straight overseas Tests since December 18 last year, he has scored exactly 750 runs in 20 innings. Not Bradmanesque, but no less important. Vijay's career, the early part of which was governed by the absence or presence of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, is now on the rise. From his 97 in Durban to that match-winning 95 at Lord's, he has hit the right notes more often than not.

The striking feature of Vijay's batting has been his desire to see the new ball off and, by his own admission to bcci.tv, "play out of character". In Adelaide, he faced 88 deliveries for his 53 and 234 for his 99.
Contrary to popular belief — reinforced by his grand performances for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL as well as his unsteady ODI career — Vijay isn't a batsman in the Virender Sehwag mould. In fact, he is quite the opposite. Anyone who's watched him play in the unforgiving and unglamorous world of first-class cricket will vouch for this. He loves to dig in than hit out. Batting to him isn't just about instincts. It's about correcting your mistakes, polishing your flaws and stopping people from questioning his place in the side after every second series.

In the first innings of the Adelaide Test, Vijay's strike-rate against Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris, Australia's frontline bowlers, was around 35. In the second, it was 23. In both innings, he milked Lyon at will. In all, he creamed the off-spinner for 68 runs in 75 balls.

As is his wont, Vijay did quite a few things right in Adelaide. He seldom drove on the off-side against Johnson, Harris and Peter Siddle. In fact, 39 of his 53 first-innings runs came on the leg side. In the second innings, a whopping 76 of his 99 runs came on the leg side. There's clearly a plan and pattern in place. Bide your time, take the shine off the new ball, invite the spinner and make merry.

Former India batsman and Mumbai coach Pravin Amre is one of the country's foremost batting gurus. And he, too, is extremely impressed with Vijay. "More than anything else, we must congratulate Vijay for his temperament. He is handling the new ball very well," Amre says.

But unlike, say, Aakash Chopra, who was India's designated new-ball facer on the tour of Australia in 2003, Vijay is not content with just seeing off the new cherry. He is keen on converting his starts. "That's another advantage of having Vijay in the side. He is a solid batsman with all the shots in the book. He plays the spinners extremely well. Those sixes over the long-on boundary (off Lyon) prove that he has a perfect plan in his mind. He has worked hard for it. He has gone through the grind in domestic cricket," Amre adds.

The sobriquet is going to stick. And Vijay wouldn't mind it.