"I told selectors to drop me after four ducks": Murali Vijay recalls his early days playing for Tamil Nadu

New Delhi [India], December 7 (ANI): Former Indian opening batter Murali Vijay humbly recalls his Tamil Nadu debut, calling it his most significant achievement. He felt a sense of accomplishment when he received his cap.

However, his start was rocky, with four ducks in the under-22s, making him doubt his abilities. Vijay even asked selectors to drop him, feeling the professional level was too high for him.

However, later in his career, Vijay became famous for converting starts into huge scores. One of those big scores came in a 462-run opening stand with Abhinav Mukund, which earned him a Test call-up in 2008-09 as a replacement for Gautam Gambhir.

"It's the biggest achievement I've ever had playing for Tamil Nadu. When the cap came to me, that was something else for me, and I felt a sense of accomplishment. I felt I finally made it. So I played under 22 and got four ducks, and I felt like this level is too high for me. I didn't play, I didn't get exposed to the professional level of cricket. So, the first time I got it was a disaster for me. I went and told the selectors, please drop me and give somebody else a chance," Murali Vijay said on Taruwar Kohli's YouTube channel.

Vijay was finally given a whole Test series against Australia in 2012-13. Vijay turned the punt into a jackpot, scoring back-to-back 150s. He soon became India's first-choice opener during the Tests in Australia in 2014-15, emerging as India's second-highest run-scorer behind only Virat Kohli.

Vijay announced his retirement from all formats of international cricket in 2023. In his international career, which began in 2008 when he took Gautam Gambhir's spot in India's XI for the final Test of the 2008-09 Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Nagpur, Vijay represented India in 87 international matches across all formats, playing 61 Tests, 17 ODIs, and 9 T20Is.

He last played for India in 2018 against Australia in Perth. He last played first-class and List-A cricket for Tamil Nadu in late 2019. In September 2020, he made his last professional cricket appearance in the IPL.

Vijay in 87 matches for India across all formats, made 4490 runs at an average of 34.80 and a strike rate of 48.48 with 12 hundreds and 16 fifties under his belt. In IPL, Vijay slammed 2619 runs in 106 at an average of 25.93. (ANI)

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