Waking up early in the morning to exercise and get to the parlor, he somehow used to squeeze some time in between in his tight schedule to go and play cricket. He tried to do so many things to earn a living and one of them also includes a chain business, where he would get commission given he is bringing two or more people into it.
But Vijay always had the support from his parents, his friends and their parents, few things which mean really very much for certain individuals. Don’t get surprised but Vijay had started playing leather ball cricket when he was 17 and when he didn’t get selected for the under-19 state side, he joined a college side to discover the joy of the game.
This was all done to show his parents that he was doing something with his life and then came a life changing moment in Vijay’s life, when he was spotted by Bharat Arun, a prominent figure in Tamil Nadu cricket and current Indian bowling coach. Arun suggested him to join Chemplast team in Chennai’s club cricket league.
Vijay said in an interview that every night during that six month period outside his home, he said to himself “I’m done!”, but then somehow gain some courage to believe in himself. Since the day he started playing for Chemplast, he never looked back and his life just changed forever.
He made great progress in his cricketing life and in 2008, the moment which he had dreamt of for a long time finally came. He made his Test debut against Australia when regular opener Gautam Gambhir was serving a one match ban. It took him a whole lot of time to establish his place in the side as he was still exploring on which format would suit his style better.
Then IPL happened for Vijay where he rose into prominence and became one of the superstars for his local side Chennai Super Kings, but lack of consistency haunted him. He was still a hit and miss player which didn’t let him into the Indian side and subsequently missed an opportunity to get into the World Cup side of 2011.
Yet, two years of great hard work in the domestic circuit brought a refurbished version of Vijay back to the scene and his consistent run of form for Tamil Nadu earned him a place in the Indian Test side against Australia. In the second Test against them at Hyderabad, Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara stitched an unforgettable 350+ run stand where the former registered his career best of 167 and the latter registered a double ton.
Vijay then became the most trustworthy batsmen in the contingent and his calm and collective approach ensured he was on his way to the cliff. Vijay’s story stands as a great inspiration for all the youngsters of this generation who are willing to explore themselves. At 31, there’s still a lot to be done for Vijay to become an all time great in Indian history and quite certainly, it will come as no surprise if he becomes one.
