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Here's Matthew Hayden's take on Cheteshwar Pujara, Murali Vijay, KL Rahul,Virat Kohli

While Rahul scored a half century (79) against Sri Lanka in the first Test in Kolkata, Murali Vijay smashed a hundred in the second Test.

Mumbai: Former Australian batsman Matthew Hayden recently spoke on India batsmen Murali Vijay and KL Rahul, and said that the duo would be natural choices when playing abroad.

While Rahul scored a half century (79) against Sri Lanka in the first Test in Kolkata, Murali Vijay smashed a hundred (128) in the second Test at Nagpur, which the hosts won by an innings and 239 runs.

Read: How Matthew Hayden lauded passionate captain-coach duo of Virat Kohli-Ravi Shastri

“Murali Vijay and KL Rahul, to me, are the natural choices when it comes to abroad performance. Having said that, I have seen Shikhar (Dhawan) evolve as a player as well. He wants to be Virender Sehwag but I don't think he has necessarily got the ability that Virender did, to kind of go up and down (the batting order).

“I think he is a vastly improved player in the last 12 months in Test match cricket. That's fair. The gut feeling with how and a difficult role for selectors to have as well, but it is a good problem to have. Because how culture driven by performance is exactly what you need,” he said to DNA.

Hayden was hopeful that the duo would get more chances in the future.

“KL is worth persisting with youth. He will play all formats of the game and I just believe Murali Vijay as his partner will bring him through that, not to mention the combination what I consider to be the most important foundation of Test match cricket and that is the engine room being Nos. 1, 2 and 3, and his relationship with Pujara is special. Those factors, for me, are really significant,” he said.

He also said that Virat Kohli is an ‘extremely consistent cricketer’.

“I think, like every player, Virat has got some challenges within his game that can, and have been, exploited. But still, he is an extremely consistent player. Over the formats of the game, Test cricket would be where he would be most vulnerable.

“Statistics have proved that and something he will be working on really hard as well. It would have been a great battle between the Australian side that I played in and Virat Kohli at the crease,” he said.

“Like it was with a Laxman, a Dravid, a Tendulkar, a Ganguly, those great battles between our world class side, and we had a side that's probably focussed and disciplined on each batsman. I don't think there are too many glaring weaknesses in Virat,” he continued.

“Virat has got that firmly entrenched on his blue print for Indian cricket moving forward. He has got to buy by the players as well.

"You look at some of the specialists in Test cricket currently being Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay, those guys will be working hard to concentrate on their game for a South Africa tour or for an Australia tour,” concluded.

( Source : deccan chronicle )
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