Pune wicket was not poor rather it was challenging, says Murali Vijay
BCCI
Murali Vijay has downplayed the talk surrounding the Pune track and called the MCA Stadium pitch a challenging one, which tests a batsmanâs character and technique. Vijay has also acknowledged that the team has identified the weak spots and are working on those areas for the second Test.
After dominating the oppositions on home soil for a long time without losing even a single Test since 2012, India had come into the Australia series as the obvious favorites. But the first match of the series saw a completely different story unfold as India folded against the Aussie spinners succumbing to a 333-run defeat. Pune, which hosted its first-ever Test, came under severe criticism and even the ICC rated it as âpoorâ. But, Vijay, pretty much like his skipper Virat Kohli, has taken the blame on the team's batting line-up and refused to blame the pitch. Â
âPune wicket was not poor. It was a challenging wicket from ball one. As cricketers, we need to play on such wickets sometimes rather than playing on flat tracks. Actually, it is a good thing to play on wickets which test your character and technique,â Vijay said in the press conference in Bengaluru.Â
He added, âI go into the middle with an open mind and look to adapt according to the pitch conditions.â
Despite the loss, Vijay believes that the team can come back stronger and put the pressure back on the Australians in the second Test that starts on March 4 in Bengaluru.Â
On being asked about how the team could improve from the previous Test, Vijay, who will play his 50th Test match, said, "Definitely we've got to. We had a chat about it and we're working on few of the areas in which we could have done well in the last Test. We've got to think about our own game. We've sat down and spoken about it and hopefully, we can come with a positive frame of mind for ball 1.
"Obviously we've lost the game. We accept that fact and look to move forward. We've spoken about it, and we're looking forward to this game, (we will look to) start fresh and put the pressure back on Australia. I think it's going to be a good challenge for us as a team, it's going to test our character and that is what we're playing cricket for. Hopefully, we will play the way we have to and how we've played before."
The Tamil Nadu opener doesnât want to put pressure on the bowlers, who were outperformed by his lesser-known opponents. He feels restricting Australia under 260 was commendable.
Vijay said, âOne-odd Test, you shouldnât be putting pressure on the batting or bowling. As a team, we did not do well. Thatâs a fact. I personally thought the bowlers did a great job. Because of the first-innings lead we gave them, we had to play with safer fields. Those things came into play. We didnât attack them much, we should have. Ifs and buts are there, but our bowlers are bowling really well.
âWe thought it was a great performance from our bowlers to keep them to 260. We had a chance to go out there and put on a great show in the first innings, but that didnât happen. Till Rahul was playing, there were high hopes to get close to their score. But that didnât happen. From there, it was like cat and mouse. To be honest, the Australians played really well in the second innings as well".
