Murali Vijay can be called as one of the successful opener of team india in the last decade or so. Just because of his ability to score runs with flamboyant style and good timing, playing closely to his body with text book drives and close to orthodox form of batting, He became a trustworthy player since the era of Gautam Gambhir & Virender Sehwag.
He was too praised by the great Allan Border for his technique as his defensive shots are so assured. And he looks comfortable of both front and back foot. And when he attacks, he doesn’t go hard at the deliveries.
He started his career at the age of 17 at tamilnadu for his club and his breakthrough season came in 2007-08 as he scored 582 runs at an average of 58.2 with two hundreds including a high-score of 230* . He was then selected for India A He carried on his good form and made 45 and 59 in the first match, batting at 3, helping India A win by 129 runs.
He opened the innings and scored 98 and 0 in the second match, in which New Zealand A secured victory In October 2008, Vijay was named in the India Red team for the Challenger Trophy. He played as an opener and finished second among the highest run-scorers of the tournament with 164 runs from 3 matches at an average of 54.
Vijay made his Test debut against Australia in the Fourth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, in Nagpur, in November 2008.Vijay partnered Virender Sehwag, and they got India off to a solid start in both innings. Vijay made 33 and 41. Vijay then got opportunity in ODI side but didn’t make full use of his chances and also become an reserve for team India in tests .
His breakthrough season came in 2013 & 2014 he scored an assured and well paced 167 in the second Test and put on a 370-run record second wicket partnership with Cheteshwar pujara (204). In the third test at Mohali, he scored his second consecutive 150+ score (153) with a strong opening stand of 289 with debutant Shikhar Dhawan ending up scoring 430 runs . He became more & more dependable when he scored Test century outside India in July 2014 at Trent Bridge against England. He finished as the leading run scorer for India in the series with 402 runs from five matches.
Followed by the series he scored 99 & 141 in Brisbane & Gabba test Against Australia displayed he’s not only a dependable player on the Indian subcontinent, but also overseas .
Murali Vijay’s Ability to play the game in his own pace , style & shear ability with classic shots what makes him the opener of different aura. Post his omission from test side, india yet to find a player who can match his level of style of batting. He went on to score 3982 runs in 61 test matches he played and scored 12 centuries & 15 half centuries and that too scoring runs all around the globe. Though he’s heen controversial over the years but no one can omit the fact that he’s surely a batter of different persona.
