Murali Vijay ruled out of Ranji Trophy quarter finals against Karnataka
Just one day after Ravichandran Ashwin was ruled out of the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals against Karnataka, the Tamil Nadu cricket team were handed a further blow as it was confirmed that Indian opener Murali Vijay would miss the match as well.
Vijay picked up a shoulder injury during the recently concluded 5th Test against England which India won by an innings and 75 runs. Due to the injury, he did not open the innings and instead came at no.6 and ended up scoring 29 runs.
While speaking to ESPN Cricinfo, TNCA secretary Kasi Viswanathan confirmed that Vijay was only 60% fit and advised him against playing.
“Even [as early as] yesterday evening, the BCCI support staff told us he was very unlikely to play," he said. "Even without the scan, they said he was only 60 percent fit. Today, they have confirmed and we have asked him to take rest.
“When they were playing the Test match, we didn't know [about their injuries]. When they were available for the matches they were selected, that's all," he said.
Meanwhile, Karnataka named a full-strength squad for the crucial fixture as triple centurion Karun Nair and in-form KL Rahul were included. Manish Pandey was also named in the 16 member squad after missing out the previous match for the state team.
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Vijay, who did not perform well in the first couple of Tests against England, began to find his form as the series progressed and ended up as the 6th highest run-getter scoring 357 runs in 8 innings at an average of 44.62 with two centuries to his name.
Ashwin, on the other hand, was spectacular throughout the series except for the final Test where he took only 1 wicket. He became the first Indian to take 25+ wickets with the ball and score over 300 runs with the bat in a single series. He ended up as the leading wicket taker with 28 wickets to his name in 5 matches. He also ended up as the 10th highest run getter, scoring 306 runs in 7 innings at an average of 43.71 with 4 half-centuries to his name.
The quarter-finals are set to begin on 23rd December and the much-awaited derby is set to take place in Vishakhapatnam. In other fixtures, Hyderabad will be playing defending champions Mumbai in Raipur, Gujarat will be up against Odisha in Jaipur, and Haryana will be playing Jharkhand in Vadodara.