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Once
I’m done with the first ball of the Test, the following days’ play meander into
a maze of random starts.
The second day’s play in Hyderabad was a Saturday. I
crashed somewhere between the middle of Friday and Saturday setting my phone on
the scorecard.
Once
up, I stirred my phone awake: India was 26/1. I hoped it wasn’t Sehwag. It was
Sehwag.
Over
four years’ back when Murali Vijay made his Test debut he wasn’t a beard-buff but
still very adept at flattery. 30s, 40s, a double digit score with the tease of
a triple, that’s how much promise there was. His workstation was the V; till nature
rushed him back with a bedwetter of a shot. It was like Mozart building up to a
crescendo by Milli Vanilli
I
can’t say if Vijay gave up on himself but I recall a home ODI series against
New Zealand where he hung around waiting for the midnight bus. Vijay appeared
to be low on Bhajji-confidence.
Nearly
two years’ later Murali Vijay returns to the Test side, picked to play and open
instead of Ajinkya Rahane (the next big thing in warming benches after Manoj
Tiwary)
Rahane
and Vijay have played a similar number of first class games – the difference
between their batting averages is 14. Rahane has 22 100s compared to Vijay’s
12. There’s more than four years between the two.
Vijay
has now played 14 Tests to none by Rahane. Rahane has played 22 ODIs to Vijay’s
16, neither player has made a mark, averages of 25 and 18, strike
rates of 73 and 62.
Throughout
this Test I was made to believe Murali Vijay had cramped down on his natural
explosive style.
His T20 International strike rate is less than a 100. So I’m
guessing they’re going by his two 100s in the IPL, and this is not the Border
Gavaskar series but yet another local tournament.
I’m
convinced Vijay will return to both the ODI and T20 squads. I fear for Rahane as I once did for Tiwary.
What
gives certain players in Indian cricket the entitlement to stroll from one
format to the other while less privileged ones are eased out from the team,
and then somewhat nonchalantly off the bench?
Murali Vijay reaches his 100. Appointed Head Peon, India Cements. #IndvsAus
— BCC! (@BoredCricket) March 3, 2013
