Indian opening batsman Murali Vijay feels India has the edge going into the final day of the first Test against England at Rajkot. Vijay’s comments come despite the hosts being 163 runs in deficit and England with all 10 second innings wickets in hand.
The Tamil Nadu batsman is of the opinion that a few wickets in the morning session on Sunday can turn the match on its head. He also mentioned that India will look to win if they get a reasonable target on day five.
“It’s a pretty good wicket, [though it has] gone slower. There’s a lot of assistance to the spinners now. Hopefully, we can put some pressure in the morning session get some wickets and you never know,” said Vijay.
“Definitely, we have the edge. We have got closer to their target. We still have a chance, you never know. If in the morning session we get 3-4 quick wickets, in the last session we can score 200 runs and go for it. A very interesting game is there.”
Vijay scored his seventh Test century on Friday, top scoring for the Indians in their first innings with 126. He looked at his fluent best, slamming nine fours and four sixes during his knock, before being dismissed by Adil Rashid towards the end of day three.
Balance is Vijay's middle name. Exemplary. Take a bow. 😊🙏👏 #INDvENG
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) November 11, 2016
When asked if he was thinking about England’s declaration, Vijay stated that it wasn’t on his mind. He also praised the Indian batting performance, especially the contributions from Ravichandran Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha down the order.
“I am not thinking anything like that [declaration] as long as we take wickets. That’s our main aim rather than waiting for what England will do. We could have gone ahead of them. Ifs and buts are there, but it’s been very good [batting performance],” he said.
Vijay added that Ashwin and Saha’s partnership “was definitely crucial.”
“They have been doing this job for a while now,” he added. “Good to see Saha and Ashwin putting up a vital partnership. Every time we have been in tricky situation, they have got us out.”
