New Delhi, May 26 (IANS): India opener Shikhar Dhawan has heaped praise on his former Test opening partner Murali Vijay, calling the out-of-favour batsman a lovely character with a beautiful soul.

"He is a lovely character both on and off the field. I know him very closely. He is a beautiful soul. For everything he is a bit like ‘not like this, not like that'. I am a ‘bindaas' character," Dhawan said while speaking to off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on his Instagram live show 'Reminisce with Ash'.

"I tell him ‘you're like my wife'. Sometimes, when we don't take a run, we have an argument but it gets sorted soon. And it's very difficult to understand him. You need to have a calm mind and patience to understand him," said the southpaw.

Dhawan and Vijay have lost their places in the Test side with Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal opening the batting now for India in the five-day format.

While Dhawan still is very much in India's limited-overs teams, Vijay, who used to play one format, has not been part of the setup since 2018.

"I love opening with him. We have done very well for the country. We are still very good friends. Of course, I look forward to spending time with him and having a good laugh with him," Dhawan added.