Murali Vijay marked his comeback into the Indian team with a breezy century against Cricket Australia XI in the tour game at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday.
Vijay, who was dropped from the team after the second Test at Lord's against England and the left out of the squad for the next five matches, scored 129 off 132 balls in the second innings of the match at the SCG.
The Tamil Nadu opener who would have surely sat out the first game at least if Prithvi Shaw was fit, has now most likely nailed his place in the playing XI for the first Test in Adelaide, starting on December 6.
Vijay didn't get to bat in the first innings of the match as India went ahead with their first-choice pairing of Shaw and KL Rahul. While Rahul failed to make a mark in the first innings, Shaw slammed 66 off 69 balls to impress everyone in his first innings Down Under. However, Shaw twisted his ankle while taking a catch in the deep and was ruled out of the first Test, thus, paving the way for Vijay to place his case.
And he did a fine job at that. Opening the batting, he looked in sublime touch much like his stint with Essex, which brought him back into the reckoning.
The 34-year-old played some really fluent shots and was in complete control of what he was doing against a sub-par CAXI bowling attack. Vijay scored his century off the 118th ball of his innings with a Jake Carder. He slammed 26 runs off that over including two sixes and three fours to reach his century from 74.
He continued to attack the bowlers before falling to Daniel Fallins for 129 as the match came to a conclusion with India ending the day and their second innings on 211/2.
Vijay smashed 16 fours and five sixes in his 132-ball essay.
Giving him good company was Rahul, who also got some important runs under his belt ahead of the first Test. Rahul, who has struggled to get going after the century at The Oval against England, threw his wicket away in the first innings but in the second, he made sure that he shows what he is capable of.
KL Rahul scored 62 off 98 balls in the second innings of the match
With his back against the wall, the Karnataka batsman hit a composed knock of 62 off 92 balls consisting of eight fours and a six. He fell to D'Arcy Short but surely claimed a place in the XI too in Shaw's absence.
The pair stitched together an opening stand of 109 runs before Rahul fell to Short in the 31st over of the Indian second innings.
With runs under their belt now, Vijay, who was India's second highest scorer in Australia last time with 482 runs and Rahul, who also had a good outing Down Under last time, will be much more confident going into the first game of the four-match series.
