Murali Vijay’s excellent form in the County Championship continued with the opening batsman slamming a fluent 85 for Essex on Tuesday.
The India batsman’s knock occurred on the first day of Essex’s Division One clash against Worcestershire. Worcestershire batted first on day one but pacer Jamie Porter’s excellent figures of 7-41 saw them bowled out for a paltry 94.
In reply, Essex were in a commanding position of 252-5 at the end of the day’s play after half-centuries from Vijay and Tom Westley.
This is the third fifty plus score in as many innings in the County Championship for Vijay. The Indian opener had registered scores of 56 and 100 in his Essex debut against Nottinghamshire previously to help his side to a convincing eight-wicket win.
This is Vijay’s maiden stint in the English county and it came about after the batsman was dropped from the Indian Test squad following a string of poor performances.
Vijay was recently dropped from the India Test squad.
The 34-year-old had been a mainstay in the Indian Test squad but endured a frustrating time during the team’s recent tour of England. The right-hander could only muster 26 runs in four innings in the first two Tests while bagging a pair at Lord’s.
Following his failures in the first two Tests, Vijay was dropped from the playing XI for the Trent Bridge Test which was won by India eventually. The Tamil Nadu batsman was then completely dropped from the squad for the final two Tests with youngster Prithvi Shaw being called up in his place.
