Murali Vijay: Knowing that I will play regularly boosted confidence

He's become the pillar of India's Test batting line-up over the last couple of years but the journey has been far from easy for Murali Vijay. In an exclusive chat with cricbuzz, he talks about what gave him confidence in the past and looks ahead at the upcoming season with excitement.

First of all, Vijay, tell us about your physical fitness and about your availability for the South Africa tour.

I am working on my fitness and it has been a good three weeks for me after the Sri Lanka series. I am in constant touch with the physios and awaiting their word on my fitness. There is still some time to go before the South Africa series begins, and I am sure I will be fit and ready in time.

You sat out two of the three Tests in Lanka. After playing a crucial role in the second innings of the second Test, how disappointing was it to miss out on the third Test and a historic Test series win?It was quite disappointing to be not part of the playing eleven. I sat out for those two matches, but even from that point of view, I could feel the positive energy in this team. Even when we lost that Galle Test, the energy didn't go down. And that is the best bit about this bunch of players. And it showed in the last two matches of the Lanka tour. We gained in confidence as the series went on which is precisely what has happened in our time overseas. So, I am looking to carry that forward and be part of the team once I am fit again.

It has been a long overseas schedule for the Indian team, starting from South Africa in 2013 to Sri Lanka now in 2015. How would you sum up this journey for yourself?Going into this long overseas schedule, I knew one thing that I would be playing regularly. It helps your personal confidence when that happens. When you get to know that you are going to play consistently, your mindset changes and it happened to me as well. At that point everything came together for me at the right time. I had featured in the home season before that and had scored 400-plus runs. I was carrying that confidence with me. Then, I played well in the second innings at Johannesburg (39 runs) and it was an innings that made me feel good about myself, about my game, that yes, I can do well in international cricket.

I have only played 33 Tests so far but have learnt a lot on the way. It has been a testing time, and consistency was the one thing I aimed for. I am pleased with my efforts, with how this overseas learning process has gone, but I believe the best is yet to come for me.

Even when playing overseas, conditions vary in different countries. So what were the differences in your preparation for each of those tours, anything that stood out? As an opener, what did you tell yourself?The ability to cope with different conditions comes through experience, but it is most true for openers I think. It is about adapting mentally to unfamiliar situations and trusting yourself and therefore I didn't change my technique too much. The one thing about international cricket nowadays is that there is no time to settle down and you have to start scoring almost immediately. So more than changing your technique, adapting to different situations helps better and it helps you think better as a batman when you are in the middle.

I had been to South Africa before, so in a way that worked in my favour. Going to a place for a second time helps you prepare accordingly especially mentally because, again, the basics stay the same. In South Africa, and also in Australia, I was mentally ready to play according to the bounce, feeling the ball on my bat. And yet, when you talk about different conditions, Manchester was one of the fastest wickets I have played on. It was quick and bouncy, and the ball was really moving around. So, in those conditions, preparation doesn't matter much. Adapting your personal game is more important.

You spoke about the Johannesburg innings. But you really kicked it on in England and Australia after that, going from starts to hundreds to getting big runs. So, from a mental aspect, explain this progression.As you said, in South Africa, I got starts. But I got some good balls and got out. Two Test series are very short affairs and there isn't much time to come back and adjust to something that you might be having a problem with. At the same time it also serves as a learning curve and helps you become a better batsman. You realise the value of getting starts and scoring from the beginning of the series. That is what happened in England where we played five Tests, and had lots of time to prepare and adapt accordingly. I got runs at the start and to be honest, I wasn't as consistent as I would have liked.

So I pushed myself for the Australian tour, in terms of fitness in particular. I wanted to play the entire series in a similar manner to the first innings of the first Test. I had learnt that from the previous tour. And it worked in those four Tests. I am looking forward to repeating that against South Africa which is again a long series.

Talking about the coming season then, how stiff do you think the Proteas' challenge is going to be? At the same time, what has the series win in Lanka done for the Indian team's confidence as it came right at the end of a long, overseas learning curve?It is going to be a huge challenge, and they are a slightly different team than the last time we played them. We are also different in some aspects. I think this is an exciting time to play Test cricket. Each Test team is going through a transitional phase, and no one really has a settled team, be it England, Australia or South Africa. And it is nothing different from the Indian team as well. I wouldn't say we are a settled team, but we are a young team that is growing together and trying out different options. We had this opportunity of playing away from home, and we made many mistakes, but we also learnt a lot. Now we are going to play on home soil, and I am eager to see what we can do as a group. It is a good time for our young team.

There is a new facet to this young Indian side. Is this aggression more an attitude born out of a particular tour, where the team as a unit made more mistakes than it should have?I don't think any particular tour stood out in terms of difficulty. They had their own set of challenges. But the England tour was one where we had a lot of situations to face. We adapted well as a unit, but we also made a lot of mistakes. Most of those five Tests in England got over on the fourth day, and it taught us a lot of lessons, particularly in terms of desire. Every player in this team wants to win, not just Tests, but series, home or away. It is at the heart of this Indian team. Personally speaking, I don't believe in a draw. Winning a match or series, gives an immense pleasure and I really want to experience that more often.

You talked about mistakes on the England tour. Does that have anything to do with how you (as a team) played Moeen Ali? And if so, werent the same mistakes repeated against Nathan Lyon and Rangana Herath? As an opener, how do you adapt to this tactic of attacking the spinners?I don't think we have a weakness against spin bowling or even pace bowling for that matter. We had a game-plan against Moeen, or Lyon later, and it is just that on those occasions they didn't really work out for us. We have a game-plan for every bowler of the opposition, and then as individual batsmen, we improvise on those plans. As an opener, when I am batting on a turning wicket, I look at the best options available to me and if attacking the spinner is one of them, I do so.

But when that game-plan fails, as a team, we do look at different aspects and try to rectify that. Galle is a big example of that. The way we played Herath there was disappointing and all of us talked about changing our approach to him. We did it immediately in the second Test, and then in the third Test we persisted with our new game-plan. So it has been a good journey with like-minded players, and now we are starting to get settled in our roles in the side and move forward together.

With a new home season approaching, your position in the team is different now from three years ago, when you were making a comeback to the side. Has life come full circle?Definitely. I was only 24 years old when I made my Test debut, and by age 28, I had only played ten-odd matches in four years, here and there, never a full series. It was a testing time for me and I learnt a lot even while staying away from the team. I had lost my spot in the team for one bad series (West Indies, 2011) and it hurt me badly. It made me realize certain aspects of my life and my game, how am I doing, and how am I going to go forward. There were many questions in my mind, about the present, about going back out there and grinding it out, about the future. And now I am part of the Indian team consistently, and indeed life has come full circle.

Is there anyone in particular you spoke with, during that tough phase in your life? Someone who motivated you to keep going?No, I am an honest believer in seeing things, experiencing them personally and learning from them. I have seen other players talking to coaches and ex-cricketers, maybe it is for them, but it is not for me. I like to find my own solutions. I believe in soul searching and not cribbing about my losses. I don't want to think about a player who replaced me or might replace me, but rather focus on the job. I look back at those tough times and I am not regretting anything. I value all those experiences and it has been a good journey so far.