JOIN USIndia suffered a major blow ahead of their opening Test against Sri Lanka after in-form opener Murali Vijay was ruled out of the game due to a hamstring injury.
Vijay, who is among the four players and sole batsman from the touring party to have played a Test match in Sri Lanka, failed to recover from the injury that had also forced him to sit out of the three-day practice game against Sri Lanka President’s XI last week. He suffered the injury during India’s limited overs tour of Zimbabwe last month.
“Vijay still has not fully recovered and we don’t want to take a chance with (wet) weather like this and slippery outfield,” said Indian Team Director Ravi Shastri.
“(It’s a) big blow (for us). He is the in-form player and has had a fabulous run in Test cricket. He has the ability to play the long innings and he will be missed. He will also be missed largely because he is such an experienced player.”
Vijay has been in brilliant form over the last one year. He scored 402 runs during the tour of England last July-August before plundering 482 runs against Australia in December-January. In the one-off Test against Bangladesh just before this tour, Vijay simply picked up from he had left off, scoring 150 in the truncated match.