Murali Vijay's selection to the Indian Team is justified
Sunil Gavaskar had opened his innings with various players during his tenure which lasted for 16 years. But when he was asked to pick his favorite opening partner, he did not mince words before naming Krishnamachari Srikkanth. Gavaskar said that the Tamil Nadu batsman had liberated him.
The veteran Mumbai batsman had high regards for “Cheeka” as an opener. But he was not the only opener to have emerged from the state of Tamil Nadu. Two more openers looked very promising. They were W.V.Raman and Sadagopan Ramesh. However, they conked out in a very brief period of time, probably due to certain flaws in their game, like dearth of footwork and inadequacy to handle short pitched deliveries.
After Ramesh, Tamil Nadu was never able to produce another opener who could compete at the international level. In fact, for long, there was one Sharath who was unlucky not to have been selected to play for India. After a long drought, the state finally gave India an opener who looked perfect to compete at the international stage. Murali Vijay, the man who dresses in yellow of the Chennai Super Kings, made his debut against the “men in yellow” during the Border-Gavaskar trophy in 2008, when Gautam Gambhir was penalized with a one-match ban. But the team which had the established opening pair of Sehwag and Gambhir could not accommodate Vijay anywhere in the team. Most of the times, he was given a chance to open whenever one of them was out with an injury or a ban. In fact, he even batted at No.3 when Rahul Dravid had to skip a couple of Tests due to an injury. However, he never had a prolonged run to bat for Team India in Tests.
After a long time, he has been selected now to play for India in the Test series due to start next week, against a depleted Aussie side. More than his selection, the exclusion of Gambhir should be considered important because the absence of Delhi’s southpaw is sure to give him now an extended run throughout the upcoming series as an opener – the sort of opportunity which he had not got earlier in his career. As soon as his name figured in the selection list, most people started questioning the rationale behind picking him and leaving out Jaffer instead. While I completely agree that Jaffer was unlucky to have been missed out, I fully justify the selection of Murali Vijay for reasons not figured out by many.
The following are four reasons why I feel Murali Vijay should be in the team for the upcoming series against Australia.
The critics levy charges against the selection panel that Vijay is included in the squad only because of a lone century in the Irani trophy even though his domestic record throughout the season has not been that great. I can agree to this allegation to an extent. But then, recent form is also very important at the start of a big tournament. As an adage goes – “Strike while the iron is red hot”, I opine that the selectors have roped him for the series against Australia at the proper time, just as he started showing rich glimpse of form. This should give a huge boost to his confidence to perform well at the top of the order in the Test series. Besides, since the opening slot is up for grabs, his selection into the team has almost become inevitable. Of course, for the very same reason, Wasim Jaffer also should have been selected but unfortunately, the selection committee had other ideas.
Australia is the most aggressive side in cricket:
Murali Vijay is just the sort of batsman India would be looking for to have at the top of the order against the Aussies. He has a mixture of solid defensive technique and good attacking instinct. Whenever required, he can throw caution to the winds. He would be an ideal partner for Sehwag to pile up runs very quickly. The reason why the Australian team had been very successful till a few years back in Test cricket was because they had two batsmen, Langer and Hayden, at the top of the order who could gather runs very quickly with a penchant to hit boundaries. To match a side like Australia in aggression, you need explosive batsmen at the top. If you are predominantly defensive or have the tendency to go into a shell, the Australian bowlers are good enough to exploit you by cornering you at every possible instance. By the time you leave the pavilion, not only would you have got out pretty cheaply, but also would have played a high percentage of dot balls. Matching aggression with aggression is very essential when you play against Australia, and the Tamil Nadu batsman has that quality in abundance. Gautam Gambhir also was equally belligerent, but sadly for India, he had not scored a century for the last three years in Test cricket, and so the selectors had to drop him.
Vijay knows to score centuries against Australia:
To come into recognition as one of the best batsmen in the world, one needs to perform well against quality sides. When you talk of quality sides, you cannot leave out Australia; although, at present, it seems the Proteas are well ahead of the rest. The Chennai Super Kings batsman knows what scoring hundred against the Aussie attack is about. He did achieve this feat in 2010, sharing a triple century partnership with Sachin Tendulkar. Never mind that was his lone Test century. It should be remembered he had played only a few matches in the longer version in any case. So, he won’t have any apprehensions facing the Aussie attack, which does not seem to be promising.
Experience of facing world class bowlers:
Though it is a T20 format, the IPL paves the way for state cricketers to bat against world class bowlers. This is an experience which you don’t gain just as a Ranji Trophy player. Murali Vijay is one of the prominent members of the Chennai Super Kings’ side which won the IPL twice. In the last five years, he has faced enough quality bowlers and has even scored heavily against them. In fact, he is the only Indian to have scored two centuries in the IPL till date. He has played some match winning knocks for his team and has always looked good whenever he gets set. He looks to be a bright prospect for the future.
So, this is the golden opportunity for him to make a name for himself. Fortunately, he was not the part of the side which went to England and Australia only to return with an 8-0 drubbing. His rendezvous with the Aussies is going to be in India, where we can expect a few runs from his willow. He should let his performance to do the talking and should try to be a regular opener for India in the years to come.