India's playing XI from Murali Vijay's last match - Where are they now?
Murali Vijay announced his retirement from all formats of international cricket earlier today on social media. The former Indian opener posted a tweet to inform the cricket universe that he has played his last match for Team India.
Vijay is one of the few players who has played more than five matches for India in all three formats. He played 65 Tests, 17 ODIs and nine T20Is for the Indian team. The numbers clearly indicate that Vijay was a red-ball specialist, and his last appearance for India also came in the Test format.
The former Indian opener's last Test was against Australia in December 2018. Australia won that match by 146 runs in Perth. In this article, we will look at India's playing XI from that game and where the players are now.
Batters - KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, and Rishabh Pant (wk)
KL Rahul and Murali Vijay opened the batting for India in that match. Both openers failed to make an impact in the match. While Rahul scored only two runs in two innings, Vijay returned with scores of 0 & 20. Nathan Lyon was the last bowler to dismiss Vijay in international cricket.
Virat Kohli smashed a century in the first innings, and Ajinkya Rahane supported him with a half-century. Cheteshwar Pujara, Hanuma Vihari and Rishabh Pant could not score big in any of the two innings.
Rahul, Kohli, Pujara, and Pant are active members of India's Test team. Vihari and Rahane have been dropped from the side. Kohli, Pant and Rahul are regular members of India's T20I and ODI squads as well. Kohli and Rahul will likely play for India in the 2023 World Cup, but Pant might miss the mega event due to his accident last month.
Bowlers - Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ishant Sharma
India did not pick a single spin bowler in the playing XI for Murali Vijay's last Test match. Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Shami formed an all-pace attack for the visitors.
Shami ran through the Australian team in the second innings, scalping six wickets. Ishant took four wickets in the first innings. Interestingly, Murali Vijay also bowled an over in the match, returning with figures of 0/10.
Bumrah, Yadav and Shami are regular members of India's Test squad. Sharma has now been dropped from the team. Shami and Bumrah are also members of the white-ball set-up, while Yadav has been in and out of the T20I team.
Here is a brief summary of the Test at the Perth Stadium that was held from December 14-18 in 2018.
Match Summary of Murali Vijay's last Test match for India
Brief Scores: Australia 326 (Marcus Harris 70, Ishant Sharma 4/41) & 243 (Usman Khawaja 72, Mohammed Shami 6/56) beat India 283 (Virat Kohli 123, Nathan Lyon 5/67) & 140 (Ajinkya Rahane 30, Nathan Lyon 3/39) by 146 runs.
Murali Vijay's performance in his last Test: 0 (12) and 20 (67) with the bat, 0/10 with the ball.