Constant shuffling in and out of the team plays on players’ minds, says Murali Vijay

Constant shuffling in and out of the team plays on players’ minds, says Murali Vijay

no photo

|

Getty

Murali Vijay has mentioned that any player who is not in the playing eleven for a long duration will always have a doubt in his mind and that does not help in the game. The Indian top order right now has too many contenders in the likes of KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay and Prithvi Shaw.

After being dropped from the Indian Test squad after four consecutive failures against England which included two ducks, Murali Vijay was on a roll in County Cricket with 323 runs in five innings at an average of 64.60 for Essex. But that did not help him when the Test squad for the series against West Indies was announced on Saturday, he was not considered anyway.  Vijay was dropped from the side during the England tour after scoring a total of 26 runs in four innings of the first two tests.

“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 told The New Indian Express.

“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 with 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 good learning curve for me to score those important runs again.”

Though the right-handed opener was not picked for the home series against West Indies, he is not sulking and ready to score big in domestic tournaments like the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy in which he is playing for his home state Tamil Nadu.

“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,” the Tamil Nadu batsman said.

Cricket FootBall Kabaddi

Basketball Hockey

SportsCafe

Get updates! Follow us on

Open all