Opener Murali Vijay, once one of the finest and most technically sound players in the Indian Test team, is hopeful that Sourav Ganguly’s appointment as the BCCI President will help him stage a comeback to the Test side.
The Tamil Nadu player was dropped from the team after a poor run in the series against England, and with Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw and now Rohit Sharma all putting their hands up to perform in his absence, the comeback route for the right-hander looks tough.
“With Sourav at the helm, I hope things would change. He had gone through this in his career. And he had come back strongly. He knows all about the feelings and the emotions of a cricketer in this situation,” Sportskeeda quoted him as saying.
“I am looking forward to Sourav’s stint. He is a players’ man. He is a strong personality and hopefully, he will bring a structure to the process for cricketers to perform well,” he added.
Vijay has been hurting after being ignored for the India A and the Duleep Trophy sides after being dropped from the Test team, and the 35-year old feels slighted at the lack of chances that he has been given to make a comeback.
“That’s exactly my point. I am just not talking about myself. I am talking about cricketers who have been left out, they should have a platform to make a comeback. It shouldn’t be a cut and chop job which leaves players in the wilderness,” he opined.
On asked about his views on Rohit and Mayank, who had a stellar series against South Africa at home recently, Vijay quips,
“It’s brilliant. It’s brilliant to see Rohit and Mayank doing well. But I feel they should give fair opportunities at a decent level to players who have been dropped. It’s not easy to go out and perform at the top level. The openers who have been in the wings should be taken care of too.”
The road, however, seems to have shut on Vijay, and at 35 years of age, chances of a comeback to the national team look slim, especially with players like Shubman Gill waiting in the ranks.
