Murali Vijay to miss entire Indian domestic season for Tamil Nadu

Former India opener Murali Vijay has decided to skip the entire domestic season, his state Tamil Nadu have revealed.

The 36-year-old has made the decision to pull out due to personal reasons, and told the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association about his status on Saturday. Announcing his absence for this season, a TNCA official told the Times of India:

"He informed us that he would be skipping the upcoming season for personal reasons. He did not mention anything further."

Murali Vijay had earlier opted out of only the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy, but will now miss the Indian domestic season in its entirety.

He was earlier named in the 26-man squad of probables for the T20 tournament, but will now be replaced in the squad by batsman L Suryaprakash.

It has been a rough couple of years for Vijay, who has struggled for runs since being dropped by India mid-way through their 2018 tour to Australia.

Vijay played just three matches for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2020, managing a meagre total of 32 runs, with a best of 21 against the Rajasthan Royals.

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Will Tamil Nadu's chances in the T20 Trophy be affected by Murali Vijay's absence?

Murali Vijay's absence will be a big blow to Tamil Nadu

Not being able to call upon Murali Vijay is a big blow to Tamil Nadu's hopes of winning the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy.

Even though he is entering his twilight years, Vijay is still more than capable of smashing bowlers to all corners of the park.

However, Tamil Nadu still have a fairly strong squad featuring a number of established names including, Dinesh Karthik, Vijay Shankar, Murugan Ashwin and Sandeep Warrier.

They will fancy their chances of making a deep run in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy this season.

In addition to Murali Vijay, Tamil Nadu will also be without Ravichandran Ashwin, Washington Sundar and T Natarajan, who are all currently in Australia with the Indian team.