Watch: Murali Vijay dedicates ton to friend's late father

Indian opener Murali Vijay was back to his very best in the ongoing Mumbai Test. Vijay has been the one consistent opener for India over the last couple of years. His opening partners have struggled with form and have been in and out of the team. Vijay has ensured to come up with one big knock every now and then to be in the mix of things for the national side.

Now, when he was under the scanner for having underperformed in the last two Tests, he gave a solid answer to the critics in the Mumbai Test. Vijay scored a brilliant 136 off 282 balls to set the tone for India’s response to England’s mammoth 400. He hit 10 fours and 3 sixes in his innings before being dismissed by Adil Rashid. It was his second ton of the series. Earlier, in the first Test at Rajkot, Vijay had scored a century as well.

Talking to the BCCI after the third day’s play, Vijay spoke about his knock. He was very emotional and dedicated this particular knock to his friend’s father who passed away on December 8. Incidentally, December 8 was the day when the fourth Test commenced in Mumbai. Vijay revealed that they had been a great support for him when he was growing up.

The official Twitter handle of the BCCI posted the video of his interview along with the caption, “#TeamIndia opener @mvj888 dedicates his Wankhede Test century to his close friend’s late father.”

“To be honest, it is pretty emotional Test match for me. Because on day 1, my close friend’s father passed away. It is difficult. But I want to dedicate this hundred to him and his family because they were really great support for me when I was growing up. And I could not be there in his last moments. At the end of the day, it came out well. Hopefully, he enjoys it up out there,” quoted Murali Vijay.

Watch: Murali Vijay’s message:

#TeamIndia opener @mvj888 dedicates his Wankhede Test century to his close friend’s late father pic.twitter.com/UzeI1jxblr

— BCCI (@BCCI) December 10, 2016