England vs India 2018, 2nd Test: Kumar Sangakkara defends Murali Vijay's dismissals

Updated - 13 Aug 2018, 03:47 PM

India, England, Virender Sehwag
Getty Images.

Whenever India tours overseas for the Test series, the management have got limited cricketers who can rely on their trust. The specialist opener, Murali Vijay has been one of them as well. Currently, team India is playing England in the five-match Test series.

However, unfortunately, he is not living up to the expectations. In fact, he has become a worrying sign for the team India and neared his way to face an axe for the remaining three Tests against England.

Kumar Sangakkara backs Murali Vijay –

Despite Murali Vijay receiving a lot of flak from the Pundits, the legendary Kumar Sangakkara who is watching the game from the closed quarters from the commentary backed the Indian opener.

Murali Vijay England India
Murali Vijay had endured a terrible outing at Lord’s, as he bagged an unlucky pair. Image Courtesy: Getty

Explaining the dismissals of Murali Vijay, the classy left-hander gave credit to James Anderson. The first innings saw an absolute jaffa delivered by James Anderson while in the second innings, conditions played a big part.

Sangakkara felt the constant intervention of rain had made the life hard for the batsman. He added that Anderson’s immense ability to exploit the conditions in England furtherly dented Vijay.

“I don’t blame him at all. He’s seen the ball swing away and take his off stump (in the first innings), it was an absolute peach. He’s seen the ball swing like that, so he covers the outside edge and it knicks off the inside edge,” Sangakkara said while talking on Sky Sports.

“It is a tough life for a batsman out there. Jimmy has been fantastic but you can see the doubt in the batsman’s mind, he just doesn’t know where the ball is going, he hedges his bets and unfortunately, the ball is just too good. Maybe because of the wet outfield and constant drizzle the ball hasn’t swung as much in the air but every time the seam hit and it was getting slightly damper, it kept jagging back in,” he added.

Vijay is unsecured of his place in the team for the third Test:

Meanwhile, the India opener is in a bowl of soup, as his place is not secured for the next Test. With the performances being pretty ordinary, one might see the heck of changes in the team for the Third Tes, which begins on August 18th at Trent Bridge.

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James Anderson Murali Vijay