Why it is still not the end of the road for Murali Vijay
The year 2018 has been a disappointing year for Murali Vijay, the stylish right-hand opening batsman may well have seen his last in Indian whites and with young guns like Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal making significant strides into Indian test team with consistent performances, definitely doesn't make the 34 year old Vijay's chances of getting back into the opening slot any easy.
In 2018, Vijay averaged mere 18.80 in 15 innings, which looks even more ordinary if we disregard his 105 runs innings in a solitary Test match against Afghanistan, played at home. More than his below average batting performances, disappointing was the manner in which seasoned opener threw away his wicket owing to his poor shot selection and didn't learn from his mistakes.
In this age of Indian cricket, no matter how many runs a batsman scores in the subcontinent, he is judged on his performances in SENA (South Africa, England, Zealand, and Australia) countries. It was then in 2014 when India last toured Down Under where Vijay showcased his ability and mettle, and thereby cemented the opening slot in the Indian test team.
Vijay's greatest strength was to play out the new ball with his ability to decisively leave balls outside of off stump, and duck the deadliest of bouncers and thereby holding up one end. Strike rate was never really a problem for Vijay who always had elegant shot-making in his arsenal.
Why Vijay should not be undermined and why he still deserves another chance?
After poor tour against England, Vijay showed his character scoring impressively for Essex in his first stint at county cricket. He also scored a fiery century against Cricket Australia XI in a pre-tour game but failed to capitalize the form in successive matches.
For Team India, 2018 was the year of opportunity, a chance to stamp their authority on world cricket by winning away from home. Although the results were not what they would have wanted, but the fact that they came up against likes of the best bowlers in Steyn, Rabada, Anderson, Broad, Starc, and Cummins on most difficult of conditions and pitches to bat, cannot be denied. And apart from Virat Kohli and Pujara (in Australia), there was no one who stood up to the challenge.
Thus to single out and criticize Vijay for his performances will not be a fair call.
Over the years Vijay has shown us his class, the technical aspect of his game, and a solid temperament to survive at the highest level in the purest form of cricket. All these facts put together keeps him within the reckoning of an opener and with proven track record and experience on his plate, he certainly has more to contribute in Indian whites.