Murali Vijay opens up about his life journey and its influence on his cricket career

Vijay talked about leaving home as a 16-year-old

Indian opener Murali Vijay opened up about how various life experiences have made him the cricketer and the man that he is today in an exclusive interview with Wisden India. The 31-year-old also talked about the changes in his game over the years after being initially labelled a T20 specialist early on his career.

Vijay feels leaving home when he was a teenager has helped him shape his personality to a large extent.

“I failed in 12th and my father was too good to me and I thought I don’t deserve that,” Vijay said. “I told him ‘Let me go and experience my life’ and he generously said ok. If he had stopped me, maybe I would have been a different personality altogether.“

The phase of introspecting and retrsopecting that Vijay went through at the mere age of 16 was crucial in shaping his own persona and in finding the path to do the right things in life.

“I wanted to learn things by seeing and doing,” Vijay said. “That gave me more happiness than people telling me this is how you go, this is how you find things. I don’t believe in that. I don’t believe in others’ experiences, I believe in my own experiences. I have to have my own style.”

This learning experience in life applied to Vijay’s growth as a batsman too. He tells how his intent is always to play the ball and that it was never a mindful choice to leave balls outside the off stump. It was something he had to do in order to adapt and succeed in the Indian Test team.

“Honestly, I always wanted to play the ball but unfortunately or fortunately, it just happened that I left more balls than any other batsman that season. I didn’t know the background but when I saw the numbers on twitter or somewhere, I was shocked. I mean, I bat two hours in the nets practising the perfect the cover-drive but suddenly I go on the other side and get a good name for something else,“ he said.

Vijay said that he was delighted with himself that he was able to prove his critics wrong at various points of his career.

“It’s the thrill I have inside, to do what many people don’t think I can. I don’t like to go and talk to them or prove them wrong because I don’t have the time. What I can do is take it up as a challenge and do what people think I cannot do, that gives me immense pleasure. At times, you need critics to push yourself also,” Vijay said.

“When I first played Twenty20, they said he is a Test cricketer. And then when I got a hundred in Twenty20, they said no no, he is a brilliant T20 player. Then they said, he cannot play Test match cricket. People’s views keep changing but not yours. That’s what my point is. It’s a challenge for me to do well in all formats and it keeps me going.”

Vijay has been nursing a hamstring injury since the series against Sri Lanka and whether he will return fully match fit in time for the Test series against South Africa remains to be seen. For a player whose career progress has faced many hurdles due to injuries, he will be hoping that he makes the squad for the first Test, which is scheduled to start on November 5.

Being the senior-most batsman in the Indian squad, Vijay’s experience and resolute batting at the top should stand in good stead for a healthy start to the Indian innings.