Murali Vijay is intent on brushing aside the disappointing tour of England and is striving for a big series down under in Australia.

The right-hand opening batsman scored 129 off 132 balls, racing from 52 to the three-figure mark in the space of 27 balls, including taking 26 runs off one over, on Day 4 of the tour game versus Cricket Australia XI at the SCG.

Having found form featuring for Essex in this year's County Championship, the "Monk" is quite upbeat about his chances of regaining a second wing to his Test career. If anyone does, for sheer hardwork through each innings and runs all over the world, Vijay deserves it.

Hence, on possibly his last tour of Australia, the proven all-conditions player wants to reiterate why he is rated so very highly.

"It was good to get some practice hitting over the boundary. I just took my chances and it came my way. I know opportunities are round the corner and wanted to be in a positive frame of mind," Vijay was quoted saying afterwards, as India drew the practice encounter, "I have been working hard on my game and fitness, and I am looking forward to contributing in this series. Hopefully, I can do that."

"Basically I am ready (after playing county cricket, tour matches in New Zealand and Australia). I just want to go out there, contribute and give a good start for my team. I have always been aiming at that and nothing is different this time," he added.

Aware of the unfortunate ankle injury to young Prithvi Shaw, Vijay, now assured of a place in the playing XI for the first Test, also spoke about opening with the extremely talented KL Rahul and said, "We (Rahul and him) come from the same part of India so we understand each other well. He is a good guy to bat with and he is fun. Hopefully, we can carry that momentum forward into the first Test."

"It always feels good to go to grounds where you have scored runs as it helps you a lot and I have good memories of it."

Vijay, who scored an outstanding hundred at Brisbane and scored over 400 runs the last time he travelled down under, also reiterated how the good bounce on Australia pitches work to his advantage as he loves to play off the backfoot, and affirmed, "Playing in Australia suits my game because I am a batsman who likes to play on the backfoot. Australia is the one place you get the bounce so you can play your shots coming from India and exploring shots that you have kept in your kit. I can get them out."

"Once you play international cricket you have to have responsibility, whether it is your first year or you have played four years ago. It is about taking responsibility and doing the job for the team. Age or years don't matter here."

"You have to work and find ways to work things out. If you are not part of the team, you have to make sure you keep your work ethics at the top level and once you get the chance you have to be ready to go. That was my basic fundamental after being dropped in England until now," he signed off.

The Border-Gavaskar kickstarts with the first Test at Adelaide from Thursday, December 6.

(Inputs from cricket.com.au)