Well, I dont think Vijay would have been in the ROI side, if he was not seen as a contender still. India pretty much seems to have the ROI team + India "A" on NZ "A" your players as the backups. I guess at some point of time they will need to start looking beyond the current openers. Vijay atleast has "some" runs on home pitches to start with (Plus, as I guess that many would be keen to point out - backing of Dhoni)