While explaining Pujara’s game in a column for a cricket website, veteran India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin praised former India opener Murali Vijay, the veteran opener recently retired, after playing 61 Tests (3982 runs), 17 ODIs (339 runs), and nine T20Is (169 runs).
Cheteshwar Pujara will play his 100th Test in the second game of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia that begins in Delhi on Friday. For the veteran India batter, it’s a historic occasion.
While explaining Pujara’s game in a column for a cricket website, veteran India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin praised former India opener, Murali Vijay. The veteran opener recently retired, after playing 61 Tests (3982 runs), 17 ODIs (339 runs), and nine T20Is (169 runs).
Ashwin said that Vijay, according to him is the best Indian opener outside of Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag.
“During all these years of knowing him (Pujara), I have learned that his game is just an extension of his personality. And his personality is stubborn. You just can’t win an argument with him. He never concedes a point. I enjoy seeing his stubborn side, so I try to lead him into arguments while others around say, “Ash, you know you are not going to win,”
Ashwin wrote in a column for Cricinfo.
“M Vijay, according to me the greatest opener for India outside of Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag, and Puji are quite similar in that they haven’t been celebrated enough. They also had some of the most hilarious arguments. They used to do the most difficult job in Test cricket – play out the new ball in testing conditions, as we tend to need to do whenever we go abroad – so it is parred for the course to have a few eccentricities emerge from that kind of partnership.”
The 38-year-old Vijay, days before announcing retirement, had said that age is becoming a hindrance in getting opportunities in Indian cricket.
“I am almost done with BCCI (smiles) and I want to find my way abroad. Play a little bit of competitive cricket,”
Vijay told WV Raman on Wednesdays with WV, a weekly show on Sportstar.
“After 30 in India, it’s taboo (smiles). They see us as 80-year-olds walking on the street. I don’t want to get into any controversy. The media should also address it differently. I feel you are peaking in your 30s. Sitting here right now, I can bat the way I bat now. But unfortunately or fortunately, the opportunities are fewer, and I have to search for my opportunities outside.”