England vs India: Ajit Agarkar Says Dropping Murali Vijay Was Harsh

Team India squad for the last couple of Test against England were announced and to everyone’s surprise veteran opening batsman Murali Vijay was axed from the squad. The BCCI announced an 18 member squad for the last two Tests leaving out Murali Vijay and left-arm chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav. The BCCI has definitely set their eyes on grooming the fresh and raw talents. However keeping everything in mind, the exclusion from the squad was a bit of a shocker.

Vijay was India’s top scorer when India had toured England in 2014. However, he failed miserably this time around and could only manage 26 runs in 4 innings. In the Lord’s Test, he recorded a rare pair which was perhaps the final nail in the coffin for the one-time stylish opening batsman. Vijay failed to find a spot in the playing XI in the 3^rd Test in favour of Shikhar Dhawan.

Murali Vijay underperformed for India in the first couple of Tests 

Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul performed reasonably well and shared a 50 runs stand in both the innings. The replacement for Vijay was y18-year-old old Prithvi Shaw. Kuldeep’s place was taken by another middle order batsman Hanuman Vihari. He also bowls a bit of off-spin. Meanwhile, Kuldeep Yadav was named in the India A squad. However Vijay was nowhere to be found which proved that selectors are trying to look beyond Vijay.

However former Indian pacer Ajit Agarkar feels that his omission was bit harsh. “It is okay that Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul have got a few more runs than Murali Vijay, but that’s a bit harsh. Looks like it’s the end of…you should never say that someone will never play again, but it does look difficult as to how Murali Vijay will get back into the squad when the replacement is a young kid which implies that they are obviously looking forward.

Two Tests, got a couple of real beauties from James Anderson and you get dropped straight from the squad, so you got to feel for Vijay. Even if the fact that he might not have played in the fourth and fifth Test, it was still harsh,” said Agarkar during an exclusive interview with ESPN Cricinfo.