Bengaluru, Oct 10: Indian opener Murali Vijay and maestro Sachin Tendulkar steadied India's first innings in the second Test, taking the score to 128 for two in reply to Australia's 478 at the close of the second day's play at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
India were pushed on the back-foot with the early exit of Virender Sehwag (30) and Rahul Dravid (1) in quick succession with just 38 runs on the board but Tendulkar and Vijay played cautiously to put up an unbeaten 90-run stand for the third wicket in the final session.
Addressing the media at the end of day’s play Vijay said that he was living his dream while batting with ‘childhood hero’ Sachin Tendulkar.
Excerpts of the press interaction.
On the team’s strategy going into Day 3
[There’s] still a lot of work to do. The wicket is deteriorating - the ball is coming on slower than expected. It is the second day and the wicket is some sort of two-paced one. We have to really work out our plan and play. We are batting well and we want to concentrate on the basics. That’s all we are thinking [about] right now.
On batting alongside Sachin Tendulkar
I am living my dream now. He is my childhood hero and batting with him is just unbelievable. I am enjoying that moment.
On opening the innings with Virender Sehwag
It is easy. Both Sachin and Sehwag are legends. It is a great honour for me to play with them. I have learnt a lot of things from them.
On the Chinnaswamy wicket
The wicket was really good in the morning and there was nothing happening out there. Initially we gave a lot of boundaries but we tried hard to get things under control and hit back in the second session.
On his approach to the game stepping in as a replacement
I try to make it simple. [I] try to contribute to the team whichever way possible.
