Johannesburg Test against South Africa turned things around for me, says Murali Vijay

Murali Vijay has been India’s most successful Test batsman over the past two years

Murali Vijay s confident that he can recover from injury in time for the Test series against South Africa, BCCI.TV reports. The 31-year-old feels that it was the Johannesburg Test against the Proteas back in 2013 that changed his fortunes and is eager to face them again.

Vijay made a successful comeback into the Test team against the visiting Australian side in 2013 after nearly two years being on the sidelines. But the real test for Vijay and the rest of the Indian team was going to be the overseas tour to South Africa – India’s first series without any of the Fab Four of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman & Sourav Ganguly.

Vijay impressed one and all with his knock of 92 in the 2nd Test at Durban, but he credits his knock of 39 from 94 balls that played a part in India saving the Test match for instilling the confidence in him to bat freely.

“It was the 39 runs in the Johannesburg Test that turned things around for me. I could feel that I was batting well. That’s what gave me confidence going into the Durban Test,” Vijay said.

“I was under the pump and really wanted to come good. The ball was reversing in Durban and it helped that I play a lot of reverse swing back home at the domestic level,” he said, recalling his 97-run knock. “It has been a great journey for me – the last one and a half year. But the best of me is yet to come.”

Vijay has reasons to be bullish as he has been India’s most successful batsman over the past two years, a period in which India has not played a single Test at home. The tour to South Africa was followed by trips to New Zealand, England, Australia and most recently Sri Lanka.

Though the Chennai-born cricketer could only manage 48 in the two Tests against the Black Caps he more than made up for it by scoring handsomely against the others. Vijay amassed 402 runs at an average of 40.2 during India’s disastrous tour of England and followed it up with an even better performance against the Aussies scoring 482 runs at an average of 60.2.

Vijay was struggling with injury even during his 82-run knock against Sri Lanka

Vijay played an aggressive knock against Sri Lanka as he was struggling to take singles

He continued his fine performances back in the subcontinent as well scoring 150 against Bangladesh in the one-off Test and a knock of 82 in the second innings of the 2nd Test against Sri Lanka, before an injury forced him off the final match. Vijay had missed the first Test as well due to fitness issues but maintained that he did not rush his comeback into the side.

“I had a chat with the physio before the second Test and we decided I could play since I had done my rehabilitation well during the break (after the Zimbabwe tour). And I never had any doubts about my batting,” Vijay explained.

Vijay was dismissed for a duck in the first innings but played an aggressive 133-ball 82 in the second innings that coupled with Rahane’s fantastic knock of 126, helped India equalise the series. The former T20 specialist revealed that he had decided to play positively as he knew he was struggling with his hamstring.

“In the second or third over of the innings, I tweaked the hamstring again and when I pushed for a single, I realised something was wrong inside,” Vijay said. “I was struggling to run quick singles and twos. That’s when I decided that I should be a little more positive. I didn’t want to put Ajinkya – who was batting beautifully at the other end – under pressure and disturb his tempo.“

“I told Ajinkya, ‘You stay at one end and anchor the innings like you have so far; I will take the risks’. I thought, even if I get out, Virat would be in next. He and Ajinkya are much fitter and can run hard between the wickets. I didn’t want to disturb Ajinkya’s rhythm because at that time his wicket was more crucial to the team than mine.”

The preparatory camp for the upcoming series begins on September 21 and Vijay is fully confident that he can recover in time.

“I am getting better. I should be fully fit,” Vijay said.