Mahendra Singh Dhoni in action, on Wednesday

Nottingham: Murali Vijay’s fourth Test century, his first away from home, held India’s innings together on the first day of the series at Trent Bridge on Wednesday.

The opener was unbeaten on 122 at stumps as India reached 259 for four. Vijay felt cutting down on flashy shots and spending time in the middle helped him come to terms with the conditions.

Excerpts

Thoughts when he and Shikhar Dhawan walked out to bat

Since we were hitting the ball well in the practice matches, and at nets, we wanted to give the team a good start. That was the intention and once you get the rhythm going you know how to go forward. Enjoyed this innings...

The game plan

Spending time at the crease is one thing that’s going to help me. I believe so. Once set I just need to convert those starts, rather than playing some flashy shots… I have got out a couple of times playing those shots.

Today also game plan was no different as I looked to spend time at the crease and then capitalise on it. It’s a five-day game, so there’s no need to get bogged down. You can play a lot of balls and bail the team out. That’s my plan.

If he was nervous on 99

Wasn’t nervous at all ... I knew I was going to get the hundred. After lunch, the ball was reversing a bit, and there was wind too.

Anderson and Broad got the ball to move around a bit, and got a couple of wickets. So we needed to be a bit careful at that time.

Getting out to flashy shots early in the innings

You can’t use it as an excuse, but that’s how I was getting out. But at the end of the day, I didn’t do well and runs were not on the board. That’s how I look at it and I move forward.

As you said, I have also got some good balls, but I can’t think over it too much… I just needed to get rid of those thoughts. I just want to cash in on this chance as this is a big series.

Dreamt of this as a kid, so obviously it’s a happy feeling.

Tackling reverse swing

We have prepared for the conditions over the last 12-14 days here. We expected that... They were doing it in the previous series, so we were aware that at some stage they are going to reverse it. We were prepared.

The wicket

It’s a good wicket and the ball is coming nicely on to the bat. I don’t know about Day II and III and lot of people have told me that overcast conditions can change the nature of the pitch a bit. Hopefully, when we bowl, we can get some help.