India’s veteran Test opening batsman Murali Vijay hits back to his form with a well deserved century on his county debut on Thursday while playing for Essex. He played a knock of 100 runs in 181 balls with the help of 15 boundaries which helped Essex to a comfortable eight-wicket victory over Nottinghamshire while chasing a target of 282 in the County Championship Division One match at Trent Bridge. This was Essex’s fifth win of the championship this season.

Earlier in the game, Vijay smashed a half-century in the first innings as he had top-scored with a 95-ball 56. He followed it up with a match-winning hundred to help the visitors reach the target just before Lunch to complete a convincing win. He also built a 204-run stand for the second-wicket stand with Tom Westley (110) before being eventually dismissed off an inside edge by Samit Patel, with 61 required for victory.

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With that century, Vijay became the second batsman to score a hundred on the debut game for Essex after the veteran South African batsman Hasim Amla, who had scored 181 against Glamorgan in 2009.

When Essex win by 8 wickets 🕺 pic.twitter.com/BcbjEkiOgZ

— Essex Cricket (@EssexCricket) September 13, 2018

Earlier, the Indian opening batsman had struggled in the Test series against England after scoring 26 runs in 4 innings (including two ducks). He was dropped from the India squad after the second Test, but now he has stormed back into the Indian selectors’ radar after the classy century. Thereafter, he replaced Peter Siddle as Essex’ overseas cricketer for the final three County Championship games of the season.

Commenting on his new role, Vijay while speaking to the official website of the club had said, “I was here with the India side about a month ago and saw first-hand just how good the crowd is. I can’t wait to play for Essex and hopefully win some matches.”