India opener Murali Vijay may have missed his century by 18 runs. But he is not disappointed with the manner in which he got out, stumped off Steve O’Keefe at the stroke of lunch after sharing 102 for the second wicket with Cheteshwar Pujara.
Speaking at the end of the third day’s play, Vijay said: “See, I wasn't disappointed actually. The shot was on. Mid-off and mid-on were inside. So, I thought it was my shot. But the situation was wrong, I guess, and the execution was not up to the mark. But definitely the shot was on.
“Actually, the previous ball to the one I got out, I saw that there was not too much spin happening. I thought ‘Okay, fine, there are scoring opportunities for me, and the fielder was inside’. Those are the shots which I bank on in my batting, so I backed my instincts, but it did not come out my way.”
Vijay did not believe that the momentum was slipping away from India, who scored only 57 runs and lost two wickets in 31 overs in the final session.
“I think the game is evenly poised. If we can get closer to the target and maybe, if possible, extend the lead from there, I think it's going to be a good game in hand,” Vijay said.
Vijay used the sweep shot nicely after reaching his fifty, more so after Pujara and he added only 24 runs in the first hour of the day’s play. “They were bowling really tight, to be honest. Pujara and I had a talk in between. The goal was to see them off in the initial phase. We knew for sure that if we put them under pressure, we can get a lot of runs in the second and third sessions. That was the basic idea. It (the sweep) came out pretty well, but it could have been much better if I had not got out.”
Playing in his 50th Test, Vijay could have made it memorable with a century. But looking back on his journey so far, the 32-year-old from Chennai said: “It's a great feeling. I can still remember the first time I joined the Indian team (against Australia in Nagpur in 2008). All I can say is I'm grateful and it's a great journey so far. Hopefully, I can keep my fitness level high and keep prolonging my career.”
The Lord’s Test win of 2014 in which he scored 24 and 95 stands out for Vijay.
Back to the game, Vijay has had a fruitful partnership with Cheteshwar Pujara, sharing 2,531 runs with nine centuries and as many fifties. On batting with Pujara, Vijay said: “”He's coming at No. 3, so somewhere we've got to build a partnership. Pujara is a guy who has the game for it, because he takes a lot of pressure and his game is such that you can depend on him and play your game naturally. So, it goes hand-in-hand. And, we both are in good form as well, so it's helping the team at the moment.”
On Australian pacer Pat Cummins, who took 4/59 in 25 overs, Vijay said: “He was bowling really well. He was sharp in the early spell and then he was trying to bowl one line to us. As soon as the wicket fell, I think he had extra gas in him. So, it was a good, challenging Test for us to battle against him.”
Asked to explain the reasons for Virat Kohli’s fifth straight failure in this series, aggregating only 46, Vijay said it was unfair to judge him by just two or three innings.
“See, Virat is a world-class player. To judge any player on two-three innings is unfair. It's just a matter of time for him to get back to runs and I think it will be sooner than later,” Vijay said in defence of his captain.
