Ind vs Aus: Pune track not poor, it was challenging, says Murali Vijay

Bangalore: Murali Vijay is easily one of the better openers India has produced, one in the classical mould. He generally knows where his off stump is, uses the depth of the crease well, keeps the initial movement of the feet to a minimum but then uses the same with dexterity once the spinners are on. No wonder the current Indian team depends a lot on him and his ability to provide solid starts. He can, as he showed while addressing the media here yesterday. At a time when a lot has been said on the Pune track, Vijay refused to rate the pitch as poor.

"Firstly I don't go into a match seeing the wicket. I go into a match with an open mindset and if the wicket does something extra then I try to adapt to it. I don't think it was a poor wicket. It was a challenging wicket. As cricketers we need that thing of playing in such wickets than playing on just flat tracks. It tests your ability and I take it that away. It actually is a good thing for me personally to play on such tracks to test your abilities and overall it was a good game of cricket. We should have done better in the first innings and then the match could have gone longer but it didn't happen," said Vijay.

At the same time Vijay refused to accept that the momentum had shifted towards Australia. "Not really," he said, adding: "We have accepted the fact (that the first Test was lost) and now we want to move forward. We are eager to start fresh and put the pressure back on Australia. It is a good test of character for our team and it is going to be a good challenge for us. That's what we play cricket for."

Speaking about his batting and the twin failures in Pune, Vijay refused to read too much into it. "It's a one off game and I just have to get it out of the system. Yes, there are a lot of things to learn. Once I got out I thought how I could have played better while watching the game," he said.