I never went to play county to get back into the Indian team, reveals Murali Vijay
After a disappointing Test series against England, Indian opener Murali Vijay has now revealed that he did not play county cricket in order to work his way back into the Indian national setup. Vijay added that the preparation for the Australia tour is on track and hoped the team emerges victorious.
Team India will step up their preparations for the upcoming tour of Australia post the ongoing T20I series against Windies. However, the likes of Virat Kohli, Murali Vijay and the other Indian players, who are not part of the T20 squad, have already begun their individual prep for the crucial away series against formidable foes.
And Indian opener, Murali Vijay, who had a miserable Test outing in the England series will hope to bounce back and grab this opportunity with both hands against the Aussies later this month. The 34-year-old hit the comeback road by turning up for Essex and it worked well for him. The 34-year old had a fruitful spell in English county cricket where he registered scores of 56, 100, 85, 80 and 2 in the three first-class matches he played for Essex to earn a spot in the Indian team. However, Vijay revealed that he did not opt to play county cricket with the sole intention of getting back into the Indian Test team.
âI never went to play county to get back into the Indian team. I felt it was important to get some runs and play good cricket. It so happened that I could do well (there) which gave me that extra bit of chance to get back into the side,â Vijay said in an interview with TOI.
The Tamil Nadu cricketer had performed well in Australia back in 2014-15 having notched up 482 runs from four matches and will hope to repeat something similar this time
âThis time we have planned well and we will get practice games before the first Test in Australia. So it is going to be ideal and hopefully, our boys can gel as a team and put the best foot forward,â he added.
Vijay also spoke about Aussie spinner, Nathan Lyon, as he asserted that it was important to be on the offensive against a bowler of Lyonâs skillset.
âYou canât allow a bowler of Lyonâs caliber to settle into his rhythm. We both had a good competition going on (the last time we played), and it will be great to once again take up the challenge,â the opener added.