Former India opener Murali Vijay on January 30, 2023, announced that he is formally retiring from international cricket.
Announcing his decision on Twitter, Vijay said he would be “exploring new opportunities in the world of cricket & the business side of it”.
In a long post, Vijay thanked the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Chemplast Sanmar, his teammates, coaches, mentors, support staff and his fans.
Vijay has been playing cricket since 2002. He started off with club cricket in Chennai and made it to TN Under 22 squad in 2004. He made
“I am almost done with BCCI [smiles] and looking for opportunities abroad. I want to play little bit of competitive cricket,” Vijay told W.V. Raman on ‘Wednesdays with WV”, a weekly show on Sportstar.
The right-handed batter who featured in 61 Tests, 17 ODIs and nine T20 Internationals last played for the country in the Perth Test against Australia in December 2018.
In 61 Tests, Vijay scored 3,982 runs at an average of 38.28 with a highest score of 167. He hit 12 hundreds and 15 half-centuries.
In 17 ODIs, he made 339 runs and in seven T20Is, he got 169 runs.
His Test debut was against Australia in the 2008-09 season at Nagpur as a replacement for Gautam Gambhir.
In the IPL, he shone for CSK and the runs he scored turned the attention on him. In the 2010 season, Vijay scored 458 runs for the Super Kings with a century and two fifties, including a blistering 127 against Rajasthan Royals in Chennai, which brought him into the national reckoning.
“To all my team-mates, coaches, mentors and support staff: It has been an absolute privilege to have played with you all, and, I thank you for helping me turn my dream into reality,” he wrote in his farewell note.
Thanking fans for their support through his ups and downs, he said, “I will forever cherish the moments I spent with you all and your support has always been a source of motivation for me.
(With inputs from PTI)
