Some fine overseas performances since India toured South Africa in November 2013 have locked M Vijay a place at the top of the order
Alagappan Muthu in Fatullah12-Jun-20151:49
‘Hopefully we can do something special in the last two days’ – Vijay
Some fine overseas performances since India toured South Africa in November 2013 have locked M Vijay a place at the top of the order. Amid that hard work, he has missed out on at least four centuries – 97 in Durban, 95 at Lord’s, 99 in Adelaide and 80 in Sydney. He can occasionally get out softly too. In Southampton, he was too casual while converting a quick single and was run out for 12. Ensuring such silly mistakes were kept away seemed paramount in the way he played. His wariness increased, perhaps, because he felt he wasn’t feeling perfectly comfortable in the middle.”To be honest, I was not batting at my best,” he said. “I just wanted to adjust to the surface and not give my wicket away. That was my priority. After a point, I knew the bowlers will get tired, and because they had four spinners, I wanted to cash in then.”Can’t do much about the weather – Vijay
Although India’s batsmen have asserted themselves and indicated that six of them will be enough more often than not in subcontinent conditions, the monsoons might have complicated their chances of victory. Should the Fatullah Test be drawn, they would slip a rung down from third to fourth in the ICC rankings. M Vijay, however, said things so peripheral do not figure in his calculations.
“We cannot do much about the weather, because it’s not in our hands,” Vijay said. “All we planned was to play positively and that’s what we wanted to do throughout the day. But unfortunately, play couldn’t take place on the whole day. I think we’re in a good position now and hopefully we can do something special in the last two days.
“It was sad that we couldn’t get a game yesterday, but that’s how it goes. But yes, I was just thinking that we could have pushed the score a bit more looking at the weather conditions. I thought we could have got to 260-270 on the first day, that would have been an ideal platform for us. But we are in a good position now.”
So far during the only Test against Bangladesh in Fatullah, Vijay was cooped up in the dressing room for half a day. Then at the hotel for a lot longer. You can’t do anything when rain hits. And not doing anything can be frustrating. On the third day, there were three delays, forcing teams to keep changing their plans. To amend tactics and targets. Through it all, Vijay’s concentration hardly ever faded. Since he returned to Test cricket in February 2013, he has been India’s leading run-scorer – 1729 in 20 matches with his 150 in Fatullah – and Vijay credited being in a “happy space” as the reason.”Being an opener, all you’ve got to do is go in with an open mind and stick to your basics and believe in yourself,” he said. “You’ve got to adjust your game according to the situation and the pitch, which is going to be crucial in my future. At the moment I’m in the right space, batting well and hitting the ball well. I’m in a happy space.”Test cricket is all about good starts and from there you build your partnerships. Initially, I never go in with a plan telling myself that ‘I have to play defensive or attacking cricket’. It’s just the situation, and I just go with the flow of the game.”Vijay also mentioned that having a quick-scoring batsman like Shikhar Dhawan at the other end helped.”If your partner is going well, you don’t have to take that many risks, especially in these kinds of situations,” he said. “The weather is playing a big role at the moment, so obviously when Shikhar was batting, all I wanted to do was play fewer shots and stabilise the innings so that he could be more comfortable doing whatever he was doing brilliantly”Vijay’s exploits in the Indian Premier League paint him as a strokemaker. But his priorities change as vividly as the uniform does. From blaring colour to serene white.