Chennai, July 13: Senior India cricketer Murali Vijay will be playing in a local domestic league game to test his fitness ahead of the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka.
India tour of Sri Lanka: Schedule
The Tamil Nadu cricketer, who has been picked for the three-Test series against Sri Lanka, will play his first competitive match on Thursday (July 13) in a TNCA first division league match.
As per a Times of India report, Vijay will represent Jolly Rovers against Young Stars at the SSN College.
"Yes, I will be playing the match. I'm looking forward to batting. My priority is to stay at the crease as long as possible and maybe score a big hundred as well," Vijay was quoted in the report as saying.
The 33-year-old India opener suffered a shoulder injury during Test series against Australia and had to undergo a surgery.
The right-handed batsman pulled out of the Indian Premier League 2017 to recuperate from the surgery as the injury needed natural healing..
Vijay has worked on his general fitness post-surgery but the cricketer hasn't had a proper hit with the bat in the nets till last week.
Before heading to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for medical assessment late last month, Vijay mentioned that he had only four net sessions, which included a few basic drills and playing underarm stuff with tennis balls, the report further added.
Before being picked up for Team India for the Sri Lanka tour, Vijay had a proper hit in the nets during his recent NCA visit. He also faced proper fast bowling during a few net sessions in the NCA.
Virat Kohli-led Team India are set to visit Sri Lanka for a 3-match Test Series, 5-match ODI series and 1 T20 International, starting July 26.
Here is the squad:
Virat Kohli (captain), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund.
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