Murali Vijay Smacks Ton On Return After Two Years; Smashes 12 Sixes In TNPL 2022

Returning to professional cricket after 21 months, explosive opener Murali Vijay smacked a ton in TNPL 2022 at a strike rate of 183.33.

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Tamil Nadu Premier League: Recently, wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik made his return to team India after three years. After Karthik, another player knocked on the door of return. Murali Vijay, who was away from cricket for two years, has made an explosive return to the cricket field after being a valuable member of the Indian team at one point. 

Explosive opener Murali Vijay has not been a part of team India for a long time now. Around 2 years ago in 2020, Murali Vijay played his last professional match. Recently in the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL), Murali Vijay made his return to professional cricket. 

Murali Vijay's roar was once again heard in the TNPL on Friday night, where he smacked a century while chasing against Nellai Royal Kings. However, Ruby Trichy Warriors still lost the match by 66 runs despite Vijay's explosive knock. 

Chasing a target of 237, while Ruby Trichy Warriors lost wickets at regular intervals at one end, Murali Vijay continued smacking at another end with 121 runs off 66 balls with 7 fours & 12 sixes at a strike rate of 183.33. However, apart from Vijay, only two other Ruby batters were able to cross the double-digit mark - Adithya Ganesh (13) & P Saravana Kumar (10*) as Ruby Trichi Warriors were halted at 170/7 in 20 overs, losing the match by  66 runs. 

After this knock, Murali Vijay has now become the leading run scorer in Tamil Nadu Premier League. In this inning, Vijay smacked 12 sixes which is most by any batter in an innings in TNPL.

Murali Vijay (121 off 66) scored 71.18% of his team's runs (170/7) in TNPL today.

The men's T20 record is held by Aaron Finch (75.10%) - 172 out of AUS's 229/2 vs ZIM in 2018.

Vijay's knock would have been ranked 7th in the list had TNPL been considered as official T20s.#TNPL

— Rhitankar Bandyopadhyay (@rhitankar8616) July 15, 2022

While talking about the match, after being put in to bat first, Nellai Royal Kings were powered to a total of 236/2 in 20 overs with unbeaten hefty knocks from Baba Aparajith & Sanjay Yadav. Sanjay Yadav scored an unbeaten 103 runs in 55 balls with 6 fours & 9 sixes while Baba Aparajith was unbeaten on 92 runs in 48 balls with 5 fours & 8 sixes. This match was played at SNR College Cricket Ground, Coimbatore.