Full name Murali Vijay
Born April 1, 1984, Chennai
Current age 25 years 237 days
Major teams India, Chennai Super Kings, Tamil Nadu
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm offbreak
| Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | BF | SR | 100 | 50 | 4s | 6s | Ct | St | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tests | 1 | 2 | 0 | 74 | 41 | 37.00 | 134 | 55.22 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| First-class | 30 | 50 | 2 | 2550 | 243 | 53.12 | 5351 | 47.65 | 6 | 11 | 294 | 37 | 34 | 0 |
| List A | 28 | 28 | 1 | 1220 | 112 | 45.18 | 1517 | 80.42 | 4 | 5 | 130 | 26 | 15 | 0 |
| Twenty20 | 15 | 13 | 0 | 249 | 54 | 19.15 | 216 | 115.27 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 |
| Mat | Inns | Balls | Runs | Wkts | BBI | BBM | Ave | Econ | SR | 4w | 5w | 10 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tests | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| First-class | 30 | 8 | 168 | 102 | 1 | 1/16 | 1/16 | 102.00 | 3.64 | 168.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| List A | 28 | 4 | 75 | 54 | 4 | 3/13 | 3/13 | 13.50 | 4.32 | 18.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Twenty20 | 15 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 0 | - | - | - | 4.00 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Only Test | India v Australia at Nagpur, Nov 6-10, 2008 scorecard |
| Test statistics | |
| First-class debut | Delhi v Tamil Nadu at Delhi, Nov 23-26, 2006 scorecard |
| Last First-class | Punjab v Tamil Nadu at Amritsar, Nov 17-20, 2009 scorecard |
| List A debut | Karnataka v Tamil Nadu at Secunderabad, Feb 16, 2006 scorecard |
| Last List A | India Blue v India Red at Nagpur, Oct 11, 2009 scorecard |
| Twenty20 debut | Goa v Tamil Nadu at Visakhapatnam, Apr 4, 2007 scorecard |
| Last Twenty20 | Goa v Tamil Nadu at Visakhapatnam, Sep 26, 2009 scorecard |
In November 2008 M Vijay, in association with Abhinav Mukund, added 462 for the first wicket in a Ranji game for Tamil Nadu. They might have fallen two short of the record, but Vijay was told he would have to leave the game midway and join the Indian team the next day for a Test against Australia. He got that chance because Gautam Gambhir, the regular opener, had been banned for one match. Vijay didn't look out of place at all, scoring 33 and 41, and running out Matthew Hayden. He was later selected as India's third opener for the Tests in New Zealand.
A tall, solid opening batsman, Vijay was an instant success in his debut Ranji season with Tamil Nadu, finishing as the third-highest run-getter with 628 runs in seven games at a 50-plus average in 2006-07. It was followed by another good season - 582 runs at 58.2. He was picked for the India A squad to face New Zealand A in two Tests at the start of the 2008-09 season, and scored 200 runs in four innings. Included in the India Red team for the Challenger Trophy, he finished as the tournament's second-highest run-getter, which finally led to his Test selection. This was rapid progress for someone who had picked proper cricket relatively late, at 17.
Kanishkaa Balachandran February 2009
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