The tried and tested M. Vijay is all set to return to Test cricket after a break of eight months.
The 33-year-old Tamil Nadu batsman, who was capped for the 50th time in the Ranchi Test match against Australia last March, has opened the innings 82 times. And that’s where he has been comfortable and productive — scoring 3306 runs at an average of 40.81 with nine centuries and 15 half centuries.
But more than the impressive numbers, it his technical soundness in dealing with the new ball attack in India and abroad that has resulted in the selectors and team management place faith in him for nine years.
Though Vijay had been an automatic selection once he established himself, India has taken the field without him 37 times, after his debut in the fourth Test against Australia here in November 2008. On that occasion he was rushed to the Orange City after Gautam Gambhir was banned, by the ICC, for a match for elbowing Shane Watson in the third Test at the Kotla.
On Friday, he would replace left-hander Shikhar Dhawan, who has been released for personal reasons. Though Vijay was in the squad for the first Test at Eden Gardens, the team management made the right choice of naming Dhawan as the opening partner to K.L. Rahul following his 190 in Galle and 119 in Pallekele in the previous series against Sri Lanka. Dhawan, who made 94 in the second innings, could have made Vijay wait had it not been for his request to give him a break.
Incidentally, Dhawan not in the original team for the series in Sri Lanka was recalled after Vijay had to pull out of Virat Kohli’s touring party citing an irritating bottom-hand wrist that had been operated in London immediately after the fourth Test against Australia at Dharamshala.
Vijay would obviously be somewhat nervous when he goes out to bat in the second Test against Sri Lanka here. He batted for more than half-an-hour on Wednesday afternoon at the VCA practice nets, facing Vidarbha’s under-23 seamers, Indian spinners and throwdowns.
Get into the groove
The Indian team management would like Vijay to get into the groove very soon and rack up some useful runs before the tour of South Africa, where he made 39 and 97 at Wanderers and Kingsmead in 2013.
In the packed home series of 2016-17, Vijay did reasonably well scoring 186 against New Zealand, 357 against England, 115 in the one-off Test against Bangladesh and 113 in three Tests against Australia.
He later admitted that he played against Australia with a broken wrist. When asked about the status of his injury not long ago, he had said: “I don’t want to get too much into the status of the injury, but I was playing with a fractured wrist. It was a difficult situation to be in, but the team always comes first.
“I was not able to bat freely because, as the injury aggravated, I couldn’t play certain shots and when I went out to bat, I had to grind it out. Especially against pacers, it was difficult at times to even defend off the front foot because it was my bottom hand that was injured.”
Vijay has proved his fitness by playing in the Tamil Nadu Premier League, Duleep Trophy and Ranji Trophy matches against Andhra, Mumbai and Odisha, against whom he made 140. A quirk of fate, courtesy Dhawan’s absence, has given Vijay a chance to don the India whites again. He will be keen to grab it just as he did in the previous 51 times he was capped.
