Vijay will act on Tendulkar’s tip in tackling South Africa openers

Opener is banking on good partnership with Dhawan as he looks to sort out his game by himself instead of asking people for help.

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India have won just two Test matches in South Africa. The first was at the Wanderers, in 2006, and the second at Kingsmead in 2010. There is a small sample size to look at, rather meaningless even, but for the sake of it, it is worth noting that India did not have a good opening stand in either of those games.

Wasim Jaffer and Virender Sehwag put on stands of 14 and 20 in 2006 while Sehwag and Murali Vijay added 43 and 42 in 2010. It is fair to say India have a propensity to lose early wickets in these conditions.

In the past, though, a middle order filled with stalwarts, especially those who could block out long passages of play or engineer strong rearguard actions, meant that the deficiencies of the openers could be papered over.

In 2013, India’s middle order is Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and one of Ajinkya Rahane or Ravindra Jadeja plus MS Dhoni. This means that a strong opening partnership could play a big role, as south Africa’s Hashim Amla and Quentin de Kock showed, even if that was in a different format in one-day internationals.

One half of India’s opening partnership, Shikhar Dhawan, has played only three Tests, all at home, although he is a veteran of India A tours and has played all around the world.

In that sense, whatever he receives from Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel will be a new experience, Dhawan’s time in the Rainbow Nation on a winter tour with India A notwithstanding.

Dhawan is a straightforward opener in that he enjoys both leaving the ball alone and hitting boundaries. His strength lies in the fact he backs himself when the ball is in his zone and hits the ball to unorthodox areas and so finds the gaps more often than others.

Vijay is a much more orthodox opener. Although he tees off in the shortest format of the game, attacking perfectly good balls, Vijay’s best efforts in Test cricket have been characterised by good temperament. Vijay has shown that he is happy to play second fiddle when either Sehwag or Dhawan are going strong.

“I personally think you got to keep it simple because already there is a lot of talk going around. You got to go out there and be free in your mind and just see the ball and play, that’s the basic plan, as simple as that,” said Vijay, who was not a part of the ODI squad.

“Obviously we came early and I have seen a few matches, a few ODI games, especially the one that happened at Wanderers, and I have a fair idea about it. As I said earlier, just clear your head and just play freely.”

While the Dhawan-Vijay opening stand is a young one in Tests, the two know each other well.

“Shikhar and I have opened in domestic cricket so we have good rapport together,” said Vijay. “In the one Test we played together against Australia, we had a good partnership. Obviously we have got a good rapport going. Hopefully we can pull it off here.”

Vijay said that he had taken the time to look back at what made him successful, and that leaving the ball alone was a key factor. “The last time I came to South Africa, I have seen those videos.

“I have played a lot of balls there, leaving. I have got a better idea at the moment,” he said. “I just want to practice on that because leaving is going to help us big time. Taking out the new ball is going to be crucial thing in this part of the world. I am looking forward to it.”

Vijay comes into this series without a weight of big scores in domestic cricket, but that does not bother him.

“For me, it’s a feel-good factor inside. It’s not about how many runs I score, it’s more about how I bat,” he said. “If I am in good touch and hitting the ball well, that matters to me more. In that respect, I am satisfied at where I am.”

If that sounds almost contrarian, a slightly individualistic approach, it is one that Vijay picked up from the best in the business.

“The first thing Sachin Paaji [Tendulkar] told me was to try and get your own answers rather than going to other people. Because it will confuse you more,” said Vijay.

“So that’s a key thing I’m going to take forward in this tour. Because, I would like to sort my stuff rather than going and confusing myself.”

He is certainly not confused at the moment, but whether Vijay is sorted or not, only time will tell.

Anand Vasu is managing editor with Wisden India.

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