India opener Murali Vijay has revealed he played through the pain barrier during India’s mammoth home season. Refusing to give too many details about his injury status, the opening batsman said he played during the season with a fractured wrist.
It should be remembered that India was riddled with several injuries during the home season. KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharam, Wriddhiman Saha, Ajinkya Rahane suffered injuries at the point or another and Vijay’s injury should have been another big blow for the home team. However, Vijay while admitting that it was a tough situation for him, said that he continued to play only for the sake of the team.
He was ruled out of the entire IPL due to that injury and travelled to the UK for surgery; he returned to Chennai a couple of days ago.
“I don’t want to get too much into the status of the injury but I was playing with a fractured wrist,” Vijay told the New Indian Express. “It was a difficult situation to be in, but the team always comes first … I was not able to bat freely because, as the injury aggravated, I couldn’t play certain shots and when I went out to bat, I had to grind it out. Especially against pacers, it was difficult at times to even defend off the front foot because it was my bottom hand that was injured.”
The Tamil Nadu ace missed just one of the 13 Tests that India played during the home season when he was ruled out of the second Border-Gavaskar Test in Bengaluru due to a shoulder injury. And despite having difficulties while batting, he was India’s third highest run-scorer with 771 runs at an average of 36.71 with the help of three fifties and as many centuries.
“I was told not to use any power while batting, so that was something I had to keep in mind while facing spinners,” he said. “As a batsman, when you can’t play certain shots, it affects your momentum and it was frustrating, but I saw it as a challenge because nothing comes easy and I learned a lot.”
Vijay has now returned to his hometown and is hoping to pick up the bat in a couple of months.
“My body language might not tell you a real story all the time. I was in pain and it is not in my personality to show what I’m going through and gain sympathy. At the end of the day, I’m the one going through that and need to handle it on my own.I have already started my rehabilitation and hopefully, in a month or two, I should be able to pick up the bat again,” he said,