The Indian team going in with Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul and not the Tamil Nadu opener, was appalling and defies logic
From being the first-choice Test opener for the Sri Lanka tour in July-August, has Murali Vijay been reduced to third opener for no fault of his?
Vijay, one of the most consistent modern-day India batsman in the longest format and who has accomplished himself in all conditions, foreign including, was left out of the first Test against Sri Lanka on a lively green top at the Eden Gardens.
The Indian team going in with Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul – both of whom did duty in Sri Lanka in the absence of Vijay due to wrist injury – and not the Tamil Nadu opener, was appalling and defies logic.
The Indian think-tank has followed a policy that any player who goes out on injury comes back to take his place in the 11 by right when fit. The explanation has been that the player has not been dropped due to form.
But, when it comes to Vijay, there seems to be a different yardstick. It is understandable that Dhawan scored two centuries in three Tests in Sri Lanka at a pace that set India's victories. Dhawan was himself making a Test return in Sri Lanka after missing at least nine Tests last season due to a thumb injury sustained in Kolkata against New Zealand.
Also not discounting is the fact that Rahul scored seven consecutive fifties in his last seven innings dating back to the first innings of Bangalore Test against Australia early this year. Had he scored a fifty in his next Test innings, which he could not as he fell to a first-ball duck on Thursday, he would have set a record that no other batsman in Test history has ever done.
On current form, Dhawan and Rahul may have been the first two choices of openers. But, the Tamil Nadu opener Vijay was in prime touch when he last played Tests, even scoring against Australia despite fracturing his wrist, in the last home season and did not perform badly to be dropped.
Going by the instances of the past season, Vijay should have been taken straightaway into the 11 when he is fit and available. When Wriddhiman Saha developed a strain in his left thigh during the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam last season, Parthiv Patel replaced him and played the remaining three Tests of the series, batting with aplomb, even opening the innings with Vijay, and also kept wickets remarkably well.
But, when Saha came back fit for the one-off Test against Bangladesh in Hyderabad in February, Patel was not even in the squad of 15.
Ajinkya Rahane opened in ODIs in the West Indies and Sri Lanka in the absence of the rested Rohit Sharma after the ICC Champions Trophy this year and scored fifty after fifty. In the West Indies, he scored three fifties and a hundred with a lowest of 39. But, he had to give way to Rohit, who returned fresh in Sri Lanka. The two-time double centurion in ODIs took his rightful place at the top of the order. There was no room for Rahane anywhere in the batting order.
It was only when Dhawan had to leave the team in Sri Lanka to tend to his ailing wife that Rahane was given a chance again and proved his worth by scoring four consecutive fifties against Australia at home. Yet, when New Zealand came visiting, Rahane moved aside for comeback man Dhawan.
Further more, Karun Nair, after scoring a triple century in the Chennai Test, had to be left out of India's next Test against Bangladesh in Hyderabad to accommodate Ajinkya Rahane, who was returning from a finger injury that kept him out of the last two Tests against England.
When Rohit, Dhawan and Rahane can take their respective places automatically after having missed games not for form, doesn't the same logic apply for Vijay?
Former batsman and television expert VVS Laxman said before the Kolkata Test toss that if Vijay was going to open in the first Test in South Africa (Cape Town, January 5, 2018 onwards), then he ought to be opening straightaway against Sri Lanka. Vijay has been one of India's rare consistent performers overseas, scoring in all conditions and has the technique to the moving ball, leaving well anything outside the off-stump and also playing his shots when within the range.
If captain Virat Kohli and chief coach Ravi Shastri think Vijay is not the first choice for South Africa, Dhawan and Rahul will have to tighten their screws and play half as well as Vijay to give India the starts. But, that's highly unfair on Vijay.
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