I was not batting at my best: Murali Vijay

Ton-up Murali Vijay credits opening partner Dhawan for helping him cope with rain intervals at Fatullah

Fatullah: Murali Vijay's 150 lit up an otherwise gloomy day as India reached 462-6 with rain and Shakib Al Hasan regularly halting their drive for quick runs on the third day of the one-off Test here yesterday.


Murali Vijay celebrates his century against Bangladesh in Fatullah yesterday. Pic:AP/PTI 

At stumps, R Ashwin (2) and Harbhajan Singh (7) were holding fort for India when rain came pouring down and washed off the final session of play on a stop-start day. Shakib (4-105) struck with his left-arm spin to send Dhawan (173) back to the pavilion in the 68th over of the innings.

Starting the second session after a one-and-a-half-hour delay due to rain during lunch time, India lost Vijay as Shakib , who had already taken two wickets in the first session, got the opener lbw to break a 114-run fourth-wicket partnership with Ajinkya Rahane.

Touching the 150-run mark, Vijay missed a sweep shot that hit him on the back pad and even though the point of impact looked outside the off stump, umpire Kumar Dharmasena raised the dreaded finger. Shakib continued his wicket-taking run as his arm ball denied Rahane (98) his fourth Test century.


Shikhar Dhawan 

Vijay said he scored a sixth Test hundred despite not batting at his best and credited opening partner Shikhar Dhawan (173) for allowing him to pace his innings, which was halted by multiple rain breaks.

"We can't do much about weather, it is not in our hands. All we (Dhawan and him) planned to do was to play throughout Day Two but sadly no play was possible. We are in a good position and hopefully we can do something special in the remaining two days," Vijay told reporters.

"The wicket was good wicket to bat on initially and then it became slower so I had to adjust a bit. Shikhar gave a brilliant start so I just wanted to hang in there and play for as long as possible," he said.

How did he cope up with frequent stoppages? "I was not batting at my best to be honest. My priority was not to give my wicket away, tire the fast bowlers and cash in when their four spinners operate. It is difficult (to bat between breaks) but you have to be up for it as a professional," said Vijay.

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