Vijay is in the midst of a good run. Scoring a fifty in his 50th Test since debut against Australia in Nagpur in 2008, Vijay missed his century by 18 runs.
India opener Murali Vijay came out in defence of his captain Virat Kohli, who fell for just six runs on Saturday. It was Kohli's fifth straight failure in this series after having amassed in excess of 1,200 runs in the three home series preceding this.
Taking the field on Saturday at the fall of Vijay's wicket, Kohli edged Pat Cummins to second slip, the second time he was falling in the slip cordon this series. In the first Test, he fell to first-slip catch off Mitchell Starc for a second-ball zero.
"See, Virat is a world-class player. To judge any player on two-three innings is unfair. It's just a matter of time before he gets back to runs and I think it will be sooner than later," Vijay said at the end of the third day's play.
Vijay is in the midst of a good run. Scoring a fifty in his 50th Test since debut against Australia in Nagpur in 2008, Vijay missed his century by 18 runs. But he was not disappointed with the manner in which he got out, stumped off Steve O'Keefe at the stroke of lunch.
Vijay said: "See, I wasn't disappointed actually. The shot was on. Mid-off and mid-on were inside. So, I thought it was my shot. But the situation was wrong, I guess, and the execution was not up to the mark. But definitely the shot was on.
"Actually, the previous ball to the one I got out, I saw that there was not too much spin happening. I thought 'Okay, fine, there are scoring opportunities for me, and the fielder was inside'. Those are the shots which I bank on in my batting, so I backed my instincts, but it did not come out my way."
Vijay did not believe that the momentum was slipping away from India, who scored only 57 runs and lost two wickets in 31 overs in the final session.
"I think the game is evenly poised. If we can get closer to the target and maybe, if possible, extend the lead from there, I think it's going to be a good game in hand," Vijay said.
Vijay used the sweep shot nicely after reaching his fifty, more so after Pujara and he added only 24 runs in the first hour of the day's play. "They were bowling really tight, to be honest. Pujara and I had a talk in between. The goal was to see them off in the initial phase. We knew for sure that if we put them under pressure, we can get a lot of runs in the second and third sessions. That was the basic idea. It (the sweep) came out pretty well, but it could have been much better if I had not got out," he said.
On Australian pacer Pat Cummins, who took 4/59 in 25 overs, Vijay said: "He was bowling really well. He was sharp in the early spell and then he was trying to bowl one line to us. As soon as the wicket fell, I think he had extra gas in him. So, it was a good, challenging Test for us to battle against him."
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 "Murali Vijay")
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