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Having started playing cricket at the age of 17, Vijay played club cricket in Chennai before he was selected in the Tamil Nadu Under-22 team. He quickly came up the ranks and made his debut for the Tamil Nadu senior team in 2006. He was one of the top run-scorers of the 2006-07 Ranji Trophy, which was his debut first-class tournament. By October 2008, he went on to represent South Zone, India Red and India A, and in November 2008, he was handed his Test debut after regular opener Gautam Gambhir was banned for one match by the ICC.
He is easy on the eye, classical to look at and you would get an impression that an artist is at work trying to paint a beautiful picture on the cricketing pitch with a bat in his hand. When Murali Vijay bats and strikes the ball clean, he has everyone appreciating his mastery. With strong roots and a solid batting technique, the opening batsman broke into the first class scene when he played for Tamil Nadu against Delhi in 2006. Riding on a strong couple of seasons in the domestic circuit, Vijay was roped in at the last minute, owing to a one-game suspension to Gautam Gambhir. He got the chance to open the batting for India in the last Test of the 2008 Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Nagpur. Vijay made 33 and 41 and contributed to two crucial opening stands of 98 and 116 with Virender Sehwag; partnerships that played a big role in India’s victory in the game. In 2009, Vijay was picked by the Chennai Super Kings to play in the IPL. But it was only in the 2010 edition that he hit a rich vein of form. At the IPL 2010, he notched up his first T20 century when he scored 127 runs off 56 balls against the Rajasthan Royals in a league game. With CSK winning that competition, Vijay then sparkled for the Chennai outfit at CLT20 2010 held in South Africa. He emerged as the top-scorer of the tournament with 294 runs to his name.
Though Vijay has hogged the limelight for his T20 heroics, it is the Test format that he loves to excel in the most. He is referred to as the “monk” a tag given to him for being patient and grinding it during long Test match innings in the domestic circuit. Vijay was most impressive when he played a Test series against Australia in 2012-13 in India scoring back to back 150s showcasing his full potential in the longest format of the game. That rich vein of form was also instrumental in getting him an ODI recall for the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy in England. India have looked up to Murali Vijay in the recent past as a stable opening batsman with tremendous potential who could augur well for the future.
Though Vijay has hogged the limelight for his T20 heroics, it is the Test format that he loves to excel in the most. He is referred to as the “monk” a tag given to him for being patient and grinding it during long Test match innings in the domestic circuit. Vijay was most impressive when he played a Test series against Australia in 2012-13 in India scoring back to back 150s showcasing his full potential in the longest format of the game. That rich vein of form was also instrumental in getting him an ODI recall for the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy in England. India have looked up to Murali Vijay in the recent past as a stable opening batsman with tremendous potential who could augur well for the future.
