Life is no bed of roses and Murali Vijay learnt that pretty early when he failed in his Board examinations and had to run away from his conservative upbringing to avoid ignominy.
 
His cricketing career started pretty late though, going by competitive Indian standards. Aged 17, his major dash of cricket kicked off at college level, where he was spotted by Bharat Arun (who was then a coach with Tamil Nadu’s Ranji side). The latter ensured that the talented Vijay played at Ranji level for TN.
 
His high in Ranji came in 2008/09 when he and Abhinav Mukund smashed a 462-run opening partnership against Maharashtra which is just 2 runs short of the all-time record of the highest opening stand in Ranji Trophy. In recognition of his efforts, Vijay was handed the Indian Test cap against Australia in the final game of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2008.
 
He was decent with the bat and impressed most with his fielding, especially in effecting the run-outs of Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey. Murali Vijay is a player for all formats (even if his numbers for India in Limited Overs Internationals do not back that up). He has an elegant technique that is tempered with gentle pushes and taps to the ball, relying more on timing, suiting him well to red ball cricket. While 
at the same time, he can be a ruthless marauder of the white ball on any given day.
 
Despite this, he has been in and out of the Test side frequently. His maiden Test hundred, coming against Australia in 2010, was a testament to his grit and patience. But in the subsequent innings, he failed to notch up a considerable score and was axed.
 
Back in 2012/13 after strong domestic performances, Vijay managed a longer run in whites this time, with impressive performances against Australia, South Africa and England. He played the first two Tests against England in 2018 but was dropped after the second game 
after a pair and later sent back home, midway of the tour. He got a chance against Australia later in the same year but was dropped after 2 games, as he failed to perform once again.
 
In the Indian T20 League, Murali Vijay has been a valuable prospect. He made his debut in the league for Chennai in 2009. In the franchise’s successful 2010 season, he collected 458 runs and was the fifth highest run-scorer in the tournament and second highest in the side. It is in this season where he got his league best of 127, tonking the ball over the ropes to long on and hoicking it over deep mid-wicket consistently throughout the game.
 
He repeated his heroics in the 2011 finale, scoring 95 (52) batting first, which eventually won him the ‘Man of the Match’ as Chennai romped to a second consecutive league title. Vijay came to the fore again in the 2012 edition, when his 113 (58) helped Chennai trounce Delhi 
in Qualifier 2.
 
He was purchased by Delhi in 2014 for 5 crores but it did not pan out as expected for the franchise, as Vijay joined Punjab in 2015 and was appointed captain later. He was bought back by Chennai in 2018 and continues to be with them since.

Murali Vijay

The franchises of the Indian Premier League (IPL) were given till January 21 (2021) to finalise the players whom they want to retain and also release. There has been some movement on that front with fates of many players &ndash; Indian and overseas &ndash; already having been sealed. Here&#39;s a look at some of the activities so far:Chennai Super Kings (Purse remaining: INR 22.9 Crore)The big news thus far is that of Suresh Raina&nbsp;being retained by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) despite the fact that he left abruptly in the previous season and as a result, missed all the games for the franchise, according to ESPNcricinfo. After a long lay-off, Raina took part in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Uttar Pradesh, in which he started off with a half-century. Raina is CSK&rsquo;s leading run-getter and has played pivotal roles in them winning three titles.&nbsp;&ldquo;He is one of our best batsmen in the last ten years. He had to miss out last year but he is back now and we are happy with him,&rdquo; a franchise official said.<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Fc951be5a5e060c058d2f775fa4aa625cd92526ea.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">The trio of Kedar Jadhav, Piyush Chawla&nbsp;and Murali Vijay&nbsp;have been released from the CSK squad. Chawla was the most expensive buy in the IPL 2020 auction, fetching INR 6.75 crore, but managed just six wickets at an economy of 9.09 in the tournament. Jadhav scored just 62 runs from five innings, while Vijay made a poor 32 runs from three outings. Monu Kumar, who bowled just a couple of overs last season has also been released. Also, Shane Watson&nbsp;will not be a part of the squad as he decided to retire from all forms of the game at the end of IPL 2020.Harbhajan Singh&rsquo;s time with the franchise too seems to have come to an end. The offspinner took to Twitter and wrote, &ldquo;As my contract comes to an end with @ChennaiIPL, playing for this team was a great experience..beautiful memories made &amp;some great friends which I will remember fondly for years to come..Thank you @ChennaiIPL, management, staff and fans for a wonderful 2years.. All the best..&rdquo;Delhi Capitals (Purse remaining: To be confirmed)<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Fcf552c5e910ba09e3c1fc7276c83b73b797ad614.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200"> One of Delhi Capitals&rsquo; star performers Marcus Stoinis&nbsp;has been retained by the franchise. He scored 352 runs at 25.14 and with the ball he picked up 13 wickets at an economy rate of 9.53, to help DC make it to their first-ever IPL final. DC are set to part ways with Jason Roy, Sandeep Lamichhane, Tushar Deshpande&nbsp;and Mohit Sharma. Roy pulled out of the previous season due to injury, Lamichhane did not feature in a single game and Mohit picked up a solitary wicket from his only appearance in IPL 2020. Alex Carey, who played just three matches last season too has been released, along with West Indies allrounder Keemo Paul.Hours after retaining Daniel Sams and Harshal Patel, the duo were traded to RCB.Royal Challengers Bangalore (Purse remaining: INR 35.7 Crore)RCB will be without the services of South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn, who has opted out of the tournament to take some time off. He made this announcement on Twitter earlier this month.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F65346fa0f2232c824bb2d1762291bd9ca457a677.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">RCB have retained 12 players. While the fact that they have retained Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Yuzvendra Chahal&nbsp;comes as little surprise, that have shown faith in youngsters like Pawan Deshpande&nbsp;and Shahbaz Ahmed&nbsp;as well. Other than that, Navdeep Saini, Adam Zampa, Josh Philippe,&nbsp;Kane Richardson, Washington Sundar, Devdutt Padikkal&nbsp;and Mohammed Siraj&nbsp;too will feature in the next edition of the IPL. Daniel Sams&nbsp;and Harshal Patel&nbsp;have been traded into the side from DC. Harshal had earlier spent five years from 2012 to 2017 with RCB.&nbsp;<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">IPL Retention Announcement 🔊 Here&rsquo;s the news you&rsquo;ve been waiting for, 12th Man Army. We have retained 12 stars from our 2020 squad. 🌟🤩<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PlayBold?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PlayBold</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IPL2021?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IPL2021</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeAreChallengers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeAreChallengers</a> <a href="https://t.co/YkzSV3EUjU">pic.twitter.com/YkzSV3EUjU</a>&mdash; Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) <a href="https://twitter.com/RCBTweets/status/1351862066299080704?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote>Consequently, Gurkeerat Singh, Moeen Ali, Aaron Finch, Chris Morris, Pawan Negi, Shivam Dube, Isuru Udana, Parthiv Patel, Dale Steyn&nbsp;and Umesh Yadav&nbsp;will not be a part of the franchise in IPL 2021.Kolkata Knight Riders (Purse remaining: INR 10.85 Crore)England batsman Tom Banton&nbsp;has been released by KKR. He was bought by the franchise in the IPL 2020 auction for INR 1 crore. He played just two matches for KKR last season and also pulled out of the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL) citing bubble fatigue.<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F12260fddfbb746a18e405a68d29507009f992e31.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">KKR have also released offspinner Chris Green&nbsp;from their squad. The Australian played just one game for KKR last season. Also, Siddhesh Lad, Nikhil Naik, and left-arm spinner M Siddharth&nbsp;have been put back into the market.&nbsp;Rajasthan Royals (Purse remaining: INR 34.85 Crore)World&#39;s leading batsman Steven Smith&nbsp;has been released by Rajasthan Royals. Sanju Samson, as a result, has been named RR captain, while Kumar Sangakkara joins the franchise as director of cricket.<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Forever a Royal...💗 Some special memories Smudge. 🤝<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RoyalsFamily?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RoyalsFamily</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/stevesmith49?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@stevesmith49</a> <a href="https://t.co/esOSQVtAtP">pic.twitter.com/esOSQVtAtP</a>&mdash; Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) <a href="https://twitter.com/rajasthanroyals/status/1351863648147308546?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote><img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Ff8e3178a75db712aa8d6ba231b39f77bd0e73e30.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">Under Smith&#39;s leadership, RR finished at the bottom of the IPL 2020 table, having secured 12 points from 14 matches. Smith scored 311 runs at a strike-rate of 131.22 in IPL 2020, which included three fifties from 14 innings.&nbsp;Kings XI Punjab (Purse remaining: INR 53.2 Crore)<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Fcb7b5d248d521ca1cf077e9b03deb296ce15418a.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200"> The duo of Glenn Maxwell&nbsp;and Sheldon Cottrell, who had a forgettable IPL 2020 have been shown the door by KXIP. Along with them, K Gowtham, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Jimmy Neesham, Hardus Viljoen&nbsp;and Karun Nair&nbsp;have been released by the franchise.Mumbai Indians (Purse remaining: INR 15.35 Crore)<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F955bdebecabd651574f79629865864d0aa7e62f9.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200"> A huge chunk of overseas players have been released by Mumbai Indians, including IPL&#39;s leading wicket-taker Lasith Malinga.&nbsp;<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">🚨 Your 1️⃣8️⃣ retained Champions for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IPL2021?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IPL2021</a> 🥁💙<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OneFamily?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OneFamily</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MumbaiIndians?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MumbaiIndians</a> <a href="https://t.co/yFjNmZZu9e">pic.twitter.com/yFjNmZZu9e</a>&mdash; Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) <a href="https://twitter.com/mipaltan/status/1351882158470688768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote>Joining him are Mitchell McCleneghan, James Pattinson, Sherfane Rutherford&nbsp;and Nathan Coulter-Nile. Among the Indian contingent uncapped legspinner Prince Balwant Rai&nbsp;and fast bowler Digvijay Deshmukh&nbsp;have also been shown the door.Sunrisers Hyderabad (Purse remaining INR 10.75 Crore)<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Ff7ec05f105f590999f1394e9d8c414c900a44150.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200"> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet">🚨 Attention <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OrangeArmy?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OrangeArmy</a> 🚨<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RisersRetained?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RisersRetained</a> for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IPL2021?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IPL2021</a> 📑<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IPLRetention?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IPLRetention</a> <a href="https://t.co/OsPeoLnDy2">pic.twitter.com/OsPeoLnDy2</a>&mdash; SunRisers Hyderabad (@SunRisers) <a href="https://twitter.com/SunRisers/status/1351875424322633730?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote>The 2016 IPL champions have released only five players - Billy Stanlake, Fabian Allen, Sanjay Yadav, B Sandeep&nbsp;and Yarra Prithvi Raj.

While Suresh Raina has been retained by CSK, Murali Vijay, Kedar Jadhav and Piyush Chawla have been released

Suresh Raina

Marcus Stoinis

Piyush Chawla

Kedar Jadhav

Chennai Super Kings

Kolkata Knight Riders

Delhi Capitals

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Mumbai Indians

Rajasthan Royals

Sunrisers Hyderabad

IPL 2021: Smith released, Samson named new RR captain

What have been the longest opening partnerships for India in the subcontinent (away from home) and outside the subcontinent? &ndash; V Rajendran on TwitterSince the last decade, i.e. from 1 January 2010, Indian openers as a pair have managed to survive at least the first 100 balls of the innings on 27 occasions. The longest a pair has batted was in the Vizag Test match against South Africa in October 2019, when Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma batting together for the first time as an opening pair put on 317 in 81.6 overs. On two other occasions, Indian openers have batted together for an excess of 50 overs. Once in the Fatullah Test against Bangladesh in June 2015 (details in the tables below) and the other occasion came against Australia at Mohali in March 2013, when Shikhar Dhawan (on debut) and M Vijay added 289 in 59.5 overs. The tables below provide details of India&rsquo;s longest opening stands in the subcontinent (away from home) and outside it.&nbsp;<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Fda6e1aad872bb6e2886f84f555787288b3086b4f.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200"><img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F9b5c9aae2c612f7e5d35f5170ee4e14dbb4b2162.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">In the recent Centurion Test match, South Africa made 621 with two of their players making ducks. Is this the highest Test total with two ducks? &ndash; Ajay Kanwal on Twitter.In the Centurion Test match, two South African players (Anrich Nortje and Lutho Sipamla) recorded ducks while their side reached 621 against Sri Lanka. The record for the maximum ducks in a large total is India&rsquo;s 627 against South Africa at Chennai in March 2008, when three Indian batsmen (Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh and RP Singh) were dismissed without opening their respective accounts. The highest Test total with two ducks is 747 by West Indies against South Africa at St John&rsquo;s in Antigua in May 2005. On this occasion, Wavell Hinds and Courtney Brown made ducks! The table below has the details of the seven instances.<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2Fe8916bfeb7894912a13809f6c81c59472f81cefe.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">+ the only instance of 3 ducks in in a total of 600-plusIn his first 6 Tests, Kyle Jamieson has already scored 226 runs and taken 36 wickets. Is this some kind of record? - Amit Bansal on WhatsAppKiwi Kyle Jamieson&rsquo;s fantastic start to his Test career is the best by any player in the last 100 years of Test cricket. Only two other cricketers have marginally exceeded his efforts. Interestingly, both these cricketers&#39; career ran parallel to each other but for opposite sides from 1911 to 1912. The table below has the details.<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F48dd60561e7fc1e9c01e2fcce2065347ee4568a0.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">When is the last time Australia used two right-handed batsmen as openers? I don&rsquo;t seem to recall them using two right-handers. &ndash; Vijaysinh Rathod on TwitterThe last time Australians used two right-handed openers was in the Wellington Test match way back on 27 March 2000, when Michael Slater and Greg Blewett opened the batting the second innings against New Zealand while chasing the target of 174 runs. Then in the next Test at Hamilton on 31 March 2000, Michael Slater opened with Matthew Hayden. Since then, until the Sydney Test match, Australians in 228 Test matches (and 421 innings) has never had two right-handed openers. For the record, the results for Australia during this period have been - Won 135, Lost 57, Drawn 36 (%win 59.21). In all they have used 36 different opening pairs (David Warner and Will Pucovski being the latest at the SCG). The summary below has the details.<img src="https://s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/image.cricket.com/temp%2F1966ee60d8af751d05be2a09c7d953cafb4adbbf.jpg" style="width: 900px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" data-code="200">Note: The opening duo of Hayden and Langer was one of the most successful opening pairs in Test history after the West Indians Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes. The Aussie pair in 113 innings while opening together aggregated 5655 runs at 51.88 per innings, with 14 hundred-plus stands.&nbsp;All records mentioned above are correct and updated as on 11 January 2021.If you have any cricket-related questions, then ask them using the #AskMohan and #StatsBurst hashtags on our social media channels. Reputed statistician, Mohandas Menon will be answering the selected questions.

In this series, your cricket-related queries will be answered by our expert statistician

Kyle Alex Jamieson

Michael Jonathon Slater

Murali Vijay Krishna

Shikhar Dhawan

Gregory Scott Blewett

Pakistan tour of New Zealand, 2020/21

India

New Zealand

Australia

What are the longest opening partnerships for India in the subcontinent (away) and outside the subcontinent?

Veteran Tamil Nadu batsman Murali Vijay has opted out of the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament owing to personal reasons.Medium-pacer K Vignesh, who tested positive for coronavirus, was replaced in the probables list by R S Jaganath Sinivas.&quot;L Suryapprakash and Jaganath Sinivas have been included in place of M Vijay (expressed his unavailability due to personal reasons) and K Vignesh (tested Covid positive) in the Tamil Nadu probables for the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Tournament,&quot; a Tamil Nadu Cricket Association press release stated on Saturday.Out-of-favour India opener Vijay, who featured for Chennai Super Kings in a few matches in the recent IPL, was among the established names in the 26-strong probables list announced on December 16 along with Dinesh Karthik, Vijay Shankar, Baba Aparajith and Baba Indrajith.The 36-year-old right-hander played in the national T20 tournament in the 2019-20 season and also in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (50-overs competition) apart from the Ranji Trophy.While batsman Suryapprakash comes in place of Vijay, Jaganath Sinivas replaces medium-pacer Vignesh.

Medium-pacer K Vignesh, who tested positive for coronavirus, was replaced in the probables list by R S Jaganath Sinivas

Tamil Nadu

Vijay opts out of Mushtaq Ali Trophy owing to personal reasons

Veteran opening batsman Murali Vijay on Wednesday (15th April) described his IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings as a special team in the T20 league with &quot;legends of world cricket&quot; forming a part of it.&quot;CSK is a very very special team. The kind of players, who came aboard right from the first auction, you name it, they are legends of world cricket,&quot; Vijay, who spent five seasons with the team from 2009-13 in his first stint before re-joining it in 2018, was quoted as saying by the CSK website.&quot;It was a great honour for us youngsters to step into the dressing room and rub shoulders with some of the legends. You get to learn a lot of things by watching them and being around them,&quot; the right-hander said about his early days in the franchise.The 36-year-old, who has played for India in 61 Tests, the last being in 2018, was a part of all the three IPL-winning campaigns of CSK.&quot;Twenty20 was a new format in 2008/09, and I guess my game was suited for white-ball cricket when I started. I kind of enjoyed it when the opportunity came to me. I was ready up and going,&quot; he said.&quot;The team atmosphere was such that you want to contribute because everyone plays with such energy and intensity. The competition was very high.&quot;The IPL, which was originally scheduled to begin on March 29, has been put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic which has wreaked havoc on the global sporting calendar resulting in various events being cancelled or postponed.

The 36-year-old, was a part of all the three IPL-winning campaigns of CSK

Murali Vijay

Debut

Player Bio

Murali Vijay in News

IPL 2021: Smith released, Samson named new RR captain

What are the longest opening partnerships for India in the subcontinent (away) and outside the subcontinent?

Vijay opts out of Mushtaq Ali Trophy owing to personal reasons

CSK are a special side in the IPL: Murali Vijay