Murali Vijay: Is he the answer to India's opening problems in overseas conditions?

As Team India embarks on what will be on of the most challenging phases any team can be put through, we cast a closer eye on whether India’s batting, especially the openers can be trusted to perform in the tours that lie ahead, in South Africa, New Zealand, England and Australia.

From what it looks now, the era of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir is well and truly behind us, more so with Sehwag’s miserable run in the Ranji Trophy. But, with Gambhir scoring the runs, it is imperative that Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan get off to a good start in South Africa, so that they are not forced to play with the added pressure of trying to keep their place in the squad.

A lot of India’s overseas wins since 2007 have been built around arousing starts given by Sehwag and Gambhir. While Sehwag garnered the plaudits with his eye-catching batting, Gambhir was always there, being a thorn in the flesh of the opposition. And that is the role that MS Dhoni would want Vijay to execute as India looks to its openers to provide the perfect platform for what, for the first time in a long time, is a middle order sans Sachin Tendulkar. With Dhawan, there is very little chance that he will change his swashbuckling ways, so it is essential that Vijay holds up one end, puts his head down and bats for long periods of time.

Murali Vijay will hope that such moments repeat themselves in the upcoming tours

It is not that Vijay is incapable of doing so. In the home series against Australia, he made two important scores of 150+, on each occasion playing second fiddle to the more aggressive batsman at the other end: Cheteshwar Pujara in Hyderabad and Shikhar Dhawan in Mohali. But, on far too many occasions in his career, Vijay has been guilty of trying to play too many shots too early, and if he is to be able to hold his own in the upcoming tours, it is essential that he reins in these instincts of his, and bats for long periods of time.

South Africa will probably be the biggest challenge, given that there are few bowling attacks better than Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel. The challenge, especially for the openers, is that all the 3 Protea quicks have different styles of bowling. Steyn with movement at pace, Philander with his nagging accuracy, and Morkel trying to be the enforcer making use of his height.

The last time India toured the Rainbow Nation, Vijay played only one test – in Durban – and didn’t score too many runs, poking one off Steyn to the keeper in the first innings when on 19, and fending off a Morkel brute to short leg, when on 9. But, that was 3 years ago, and to his credit, Vijay has worked hard in that period to ensure that his concentration levels are up, and that he doesn’t throw his wicket away, playing irresponsible shots. Vijay has ensured that he isn’t let down by his defensive play, and that defensive play will be crucial in conditions where runs won’t be easy to come by, and each and every run scored will have to be earned.

Sehwag and Gambhir largely failed in India’s last two high-profile overseas tours, and the result was a 0-4 drubbing in each of the series in England and Australia. Duncan Fletcher, MS Dhoni and the think-tank would have to realize that it will be essential for the openers to remain solid, and in what is the biggest, most challenging and most important phase in his international career, Murali Vijay would be itching to silence all the doubters, and pencil in his name as one of India’s Test openers for the foreseeable future.