Premature to Write Off Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan - Graham Gooch

Former England captain, Graham Gooch feels the decision to write off Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan is not a right one from the management team. However, Murali Vijay played his last Test against England where he scored two ducks in two consecutive innings. On the other hand, Shikhar Dhawan also played his final Test against England scoring three runs and one run in the first and second essay of the game.

Moreover, Graham Gooch feels it was not the right decision to write off Vijay and Dhawan at this point. He additionally applauds the duo that they can return into the Test side at any given time. It is quite evident that batsman should have ups and downs in their regular cricketing life.

Meanwhile, Shikhar Dhawan is playing ODIs and T20Is on a regular basis while Murali Vijay was out of touch from the limited-overs format and didn’t perform consistently for over three years in Tests as well.

“Look, it’s premature to write off Vijay and Dhawan. Both have the talent to return to the Test fold… Batsmen do go through bad patches. While Shikhar regularly features in ODIs and in T20Is, Vijay has come to be regarded as a one-format batsman. The 34-year-old hasn’t played either an ODI or a T20I for well over three years.” Graham Gooch said.

Furthermore, Murali Vijay recently played franchise cricket for Essex and had scored lots of runs for his team. He was the key player who helped the team to finish at No.3 in Division I of the County Championship. However, Essex had won all the three matches in which Vijay featured himself.

“I’m glad you’ve brought this up. Vijay played brilliantly for Essex and, thanks to him, we finished No.3 in Division I of the County Championship (behind Surrey and Somerset). Essex won all three matches that Vijay played in… In five innings, he had one hundred, three 50s and one low score.” Gooch added.

Meanwhile, Shikhar Dhawan is currently playing the ODI series against the Windies, whereas, Murali Vijay is not a part of the squad.