Former team India director Ravi Shastri praises Murali Vijay

Ravi Shastri, former director of the Indian cricket team was all praises for Indian opener Murali Vijay who helped the team to a solid start in the third Test after the Aussies posted a total of 450 plus in their first innings. Vijay fell to Steve O’Keefe on day three at the stroke of lunch on the score of 82 and Shastri feels “He would be disappointed with that.”

Shastri spoke to the Sportstar about his first meeting with the opener and he seemed really impressed with Vijay. According to the former Indian allrounder he was quite sure of Vijay’s capabilities in their first meeting itself and also expressed the same to the right-handed batsman.

Shastri quoted, “You know, I told him when I saw him first that he is a 20-Test-hundred man. Vijay’s that good.” Vijay narrowly missed out on a century in the ongoing Test match which happens to be the 50th of his career. The 32-year-old would have liked to mark this special occasion in his career with a ton but unfortunately missed out on it.

That doesn’t bother the former team director who is commentating for the game as he added. “But he will play a lot more Tests, get a lot more runs. We’ve had long conversations about batting in different conditions. The talks were engaging. Vijay is very focused. He’s a fine ‘leaver’ of the ball, handles the short ball well. For an opener, he is a terrific player of spin. He’s just a solid player who makes runs in all conditions.”

During Shastri’s rein, Vijay had shown terrific form against the Aussies in the 2014-15 series where he had scored 482 runs in four Tests at an average of 60.25. “Vijay handles pressure well, can change the tempo. And he’s a team man.”

He also praised Vijay’s temperament saying, “Vijay is mentally strong, will be around for some more time.”