Murali Vijay scores century on County Championship debut for Essex

After losing his spot from the Test squad, Indian opener Murali Vijay turned up for the last three county championship matches for Essex. Vijay was dropped from the XI after bagging a pair in the Lord’s Test match and subsequently from the squad for the final two games. In the hope of reviving his Test career, he signed up for Essex to get runs under his belt and return to the squad.

Things went as expected for the Tamil Nadu batsman who scored a fifty on his first outing in the County Championship at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. Vijay opened the innings with Nick Browne on his County debut against Nottinghamshire. He scored 59 off 95 balls with nine fours during his 136-run minute stay at the crease. His innings came to an end when umpire unreasonably adjudged him caught behind off the bowling of Lyndon James.

His knock helped Essex finish on 233 and earn a 56-run first innings lead. Contributions from all batsmen helped the hosts finish on 337 and set a target of 282-run target in the Division One game. After losing the wicket of Browne at the score of 17, Vijay put on a huge stand with Tom Westley in the chase. The pair ended the 3rd day with a 130-run unbeaten stand for the 2nd wicket.

Resuming the day on 75, Vijay completed his maiden century in the competition on the final day morning. However, soon after reaching 100, Vijay was cleaned up Samit Patel trying to play a drive. The 34-year-old faced 181 balls for in the second innings that was spread across 229 minutes and included 15 boundaries. His dismissal brought an end to his 204-run stand with Westley, who also scored a century. The England International made an unbeaten 110 facing 198 deliveries to take his team to an 8-wicket win.

A rare century:

Vijay, by scoring a century on his county championship debut, became only the 2nd Indian to achieve this feat. Piyush Chawla scored an unbeaten 102 on his County debut in 2009 while playing for Sussex against Worcestershire. The leg-spinner also claimed eight wickets in that game. His century is only the 3rd by an Indian in the 4th innings of a County game. Sachin Tendulkar for Yorkshire and VVS Laxman for Lancashire also made exactly 100 in 1992 and 2007 respectively.

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