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India vs New Zealand 2nd Test: Murali Vijay due for big score

If there has to be an assessment done among the current Indian cricketers who have cemented their respective places in the Test side following the retirements of the greats, Murali Vijay would perhaps find himself at the first spot.

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Murali Vijay recently scored his 14th Test century at Kanpur © AFP
Murali Vijay recently scored his 14th Test century at Kanpur © AFP

If there has to be an assessment done among the current Indian cricketers who have cemented their respective places in the Test side following the retirements of the greats, Murali Vijay would perhaps find himself at the first spot. Right from the home series against Australia in 2012-13 — till then Vijay was in and out of the team and never finding a great phase as a batsman — to the recently-concluded first Test against New Zealand, the right-hander has remained a center of attraction. From IPL exploits to picking Kevin Pietersen’s brains on what it takes to score Test hundreds, Vijay has indeed been India’s most improved Test batsman, but not without the occasional failure.

How does one describe failure of a batsman who invariably gets starts? In an era when most of the batsmen do well at home and struggle overseas, and also, fail to switch seamlessly across formats, Vijay is one of the very few with exploits in T20 as well as Test cricket. He has made runs in England, against Australia home and away, and in South Africa. The biggest factor in Vijay’s splendid performances across formats compared to the many inconsistent Indian batsmen is the fact that he has tremendous patience, which results in him applying himself at his best and thus gets the runs as well. However, for a batsman who has gone without a Test century for close to 15 months, the time and the stage is apt to come up with yet another big score.

The last time Vijay scored a century in Test cricket was in the one-off Test India had played against Bangladesh at Fatullah. Since then, Vijay has featured in 8 Tests (including two washed-out matches), has scored four half-centuries but has failed to push for the three-figure mark. If a closer look is taken into Vijay’s performances in these 6 completed Tests, it will be observed that he has not just got half-centuries, he has been able to tick past the score further, with 65 being his lowest score in the last four fifties, as the table shows below.

Opposition

R

B

4s

6s

Sri Lanka

82

133

4

2

South Africa

75

136

12

New Zealand

65

170

8

New Zealand

76

170

8

1

What is to be noticed that the least number of balls Vijay has faced is 133, which indicates Vijay gives himself ample amount of time to set himself up for big scores. Unfortunately, he has not got to the three-figure mark, which will be highlighted as soon as Indian Test side hits a rough patch. In case if that happens, Vijay’s lack of hundreds cannot be blown as the reason of India’s failure because among the current set of batsmen, he has to be the most consistent one.

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Vijay, however, is not the only batsman running this risk. David Warner has just had first-hand experience of that phase when individually as a player you do not do great but since the team keeps winning, your shortcoming gets highlighted. Since his splendid double-century at the WACA against New Zealand in November 2015, Warner has had only one Test hundred — the unbeaten 122 against West Indies at Sydney. But when the time came for Australia to depend on their most aggressive batsman in the Test line-up to thwart the challenges Rangana Herath posed in tandem with a few rookie spinners, Warner could not do much and landed himself in position from where he felt a lot of pressure and guilt.

To expect batsmen to keep ticking on for hundreds in Test cricket can be a demand too big to ask for. There are many batsmen in international circuit who are consistent with runs, but not with their hundreds. For example, Alastair Cook, the most prolific opening batsmen in contemporary Test cricket, has a mere 4 centuries in the last 24 Tests that he has played. Mind you, as one of the disciples of Graham Gooch who taught his students the art of scoring ‘daddy hundreds’ — a score either close to 200 or more than that — Cook was not only getting centuries more often than not, but he was converting them into big scores.

Coming back to Vijay, it may look grossly unfair on a batsman who has consistently got runs but not the big ones that generally attract critics and fans. The art of spending time at the wicket, applying yourself, weathering storms and chalking out big hundreds require a lot from the modern-day batsman who is rapidly adjusting himself to the way Test cricket is played. There are either fillers (read cricketers) who can fit in for specific roles, not guaranteeing consistency and performances, or those like Vijay who do whatever possible to keep bringing out the best in them across formats.

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India should not read much into the lack of hundreds from their top order, given the fact that KL Rahul has just arrived at the scene and Shikhar Dhawan is already playing the price for being inconsistent. For India and Vijay’s good, No. 3 Cheteshwar Pujara is as priming up for the big home season with two half-centuries in the Kanpur Test.

India and Vijay should rather be happy that a prolonged run at home gives their batsmen an opportunity to put their tough phases behind them, and concentrate on doing their best in home conditions. Vijay, like his peers, has the chance to make it big, which will be sweet for him and the team management.

Moreover, for Virat Kohli to ensure that his team continues to produce aggressive and positive cricket, he will need centuries from his top-order. In this context, Rahul has been unfortunate to have suffered an injury just when he looked set to take giant strides. Gautam Gambhir, drafted in as replacement after being ignored for long, will be raring to have a go. While Vijay can breathe easy for now, a century is still due from him.

(Devarchit Varma is senior writer with CricketCountry. He can be followed on Twitter @Devarchit)

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