India’s Test opener Murali Vijay, in an interaction with the media during the national team’s camp in Bangalore, speaks about Anil Kumble, former team director Ravi Shastri, what lies ahead for the team, Virat Kohli-Kumble combo, and more. Here’s the excerpts:
On first practice session with Anil Kumble
It has been a couple of good days for us. We have to Bangalore with a purpose – preparing for the West Indies tour. Anil bhai gave us the freedom to work, for a couple of days, on whatever we got because of the rain. We have been having some quality sessions out there.
On Anil Kumble and Ravi Shastri
We had a great time with Ravi bhai and Anil bhai has picked up for now, hopefully we can have a good time with him and learn lot of things from because he has been an unbelievable cricketer for the Indian team . We are looking forward to share some quality time with him.
On preparations for West Indies tour
I have been to West Indies three times before so I have a fair bit of idea about how it’s going to be there. But we don’t know what’s going to be given to us on that particular Test match so we gotta be prepared overall as a unit because this is the start of our season. I’m looking forward to sticking to my basics and be as consistent I can this season. Hopefully, If I can do that, I’ll be happy at the end of it.
On how playing Cricket in West Indies is different from other countries
West Indies is a great place to play cricket because it’s more of fun, and there is lot of competition inside. So you can not ask for more as a sportsperson. Entertainment overall. We are really looking forward to this series to have a great one and come back to India. It’s a confidence booster for us to go there and execute our plans. Lot at stake for us.
On Anil Kumble as a Cricketer
My first Test match was his last Test match so I couldn’t spend a lot of time with him. But I have been a great fan of him, and as a youngster who doesn’t. It’s a great opportunity for us to talk to him about cricket and learn about his thought process about the game, and learn from that and move forward. It’s going to be a great time for us.
On Virat-Jumbo partnership
I can’t see anything ahead of me and talk. A couple of day’s time it has been so it’s very early to give a comment over that. It’s going to be a great 12 months for us, that much I can guarantee you as a team. We are up for it and we want to be the best we can in these coming 12 months.