Rohit Sharma Leads Tributes As Veteran Indian Batter Murali Vijay Calls Time On International Career

India skipper Rohit Sharma congratulated veteran batter Murali Vijay, who announced his retirement all forms of international cricket on Monday. Vijay played 87 matches for India, scoring 4490 runs. The bulk of appearances for the opening batter came in the Test format, representing the national team in 61 matches, scoring 3982 runs at an average of 38.29. He also featured in 17 ODIs and 9 T20Is for the Indian team. Taking to Twitter, Rohit extended his good wishes to the 38-year-old batter for his life ahead.

“Monka well done on your career bro, had a great time watching you play some of your masterpieces, specially in Australia. Good luck ahead bro @mvj888,” tweeted Rohit.

Monka well done on your career bro, had a great time watching you play some of your masterpieces, specially in Australia. Good luck ahead bro @mvj888

— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) January 31, 2023

Apart from Rohit, India batter Cheteshwar Pujara also tweeted, “Was a pleasure playing alongside you @mvj888. Congratulations on a fine career. Wishing you the best for all your future endeavours.”

Was a pleasure playing alongside you @mvj888 Congratulations on a fine career. Wishing you the best for all your future endeavours. pic.twitter.com/toban1luZx

— Cheteshwar Pujara (@cheteshwar1) January 30, 2023

“Well done monk @mvj888. Congratulations on a wonderful career and happy retirement,” tweeted India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin.

Well done monk. @mvj888 Congratulations on a wonderful career and happy retirement pic.twitter.com/CDGOYZigsW

— Ashwin (@ashwinravi99) January 31, 2023

In a heartwarming post on Twitter, Vijay confirmed that he is open to exploring new opportunities. Having put the ‘BCCI chapter’ to an end, Vijay is now looking for opportunities abroad.

Vijay’s last appearance for India came against Australia in a Test match in 2018.

Earlier this month, Vijay spoke about the indifferent treatment he received, especially in terms of backing from the team management. Vijay claimed that he could’ve also tried a few things had the team management backed him the way they supported Sehwag.

“Consciously, I didn’t get the freedom of Virender Sehwag to be honest. Whatever Sehwag got in his life, I didn’t. If I could have got that kind of backing and open-spreaded talks, I could have also tried. The honest thing is the team’s backing and how you can contribute to the team in international level. It’s a high-level competition and you don’t have many chances to experiment different ways,” Vijay had told WV Raman on Sportstar.