Constant Chop and Change Affected My Performance - Murali Vijay

Murali Vijay believes the constant chop and change by the team management affected his performance. Vijay who was regarded as India’s first choice opener was dropped after an ordinary performance in the first two Test matches against England. He was dropped for the third Test match. In fact, Vijay could not make the cut into the squad for the final two Test matches as he scored only 26 runs in the first two games.

Meanwhile, India’s think tank has made constant shuffling in the playing XI. Interestingly, Virat Kohli had played a different playing XI in the first 38 Test matches he went on to lead. Thus, there were always changes made to the playing combination of the team.

Murali Vijay is technically correct.

“Anyone who doesn’t get to play re­g­u­l­a­rly will have some doubts. When you shuffle a lot there will definitely be certain thoughts in the back of your mind over your spot… but the team-management had a different way of looking at things. And when you are part of the team, you have to contribute to the overall cause because that is what matters in the end. You are always judged on the performances. Unfortunately, I didn’t have them,” Vijay was quoted as saying by The New Indian Express.

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Conditions were arduous.

The Tamil Nadu batsman believes that the English conditions were arduous for all the batsmen. Except for Virat Kohli, no other batsman was able to consistently dominate the bowlers. However, Vijay was able to get back his confidence after scoring for Essex in County Championship.

“Conditions were tough for batsmen. It was no doubt one of the most challenging conditions. Even the English batsmen struggled to make runs… and it is the same as our middle-order as well. None of us could support Virat (Kohli), which is why the defeat hurt a lot. After the Tests, I wanted to see where I stood and Essex was a good learning curve for me to score those important runs again,” said Vijay.

Performance counts.

Meanwhile, Vijay said up and down form are part of a cricketer’s life. Therefore, the flamboyant is looking forward to making his comeback.

“At the end of the day, it is the performance that counts. The past doesn’t matter and it is for others to judge if I deserved to be in the side or not. I’m playing this sport because it gives me joy and that is what I look forward to the most. Ups and downs are part of a cricketer’s career. I have gone through this before,” he added.

Murali Vijay was overlooked for the Windies series to give a chance to Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal. Consequently, Vijay will like to keep scoring runs to get back into the national side.