Vijay Shankar retires from domestic cricket and IPL

Vijay Shankar, an all-rounder, has announced his retirement from Indian Premier League and domestic cricket. In a heartfelt message posted on his official Instagram account, Vijay said: "I have decided to retire from playing domestic cricket and IPL to pursue new opportunities and play more cricket." Vijay, who debuted for his home state of Tamil Nadu back in 2012, featured for them for 13 years before making a late switch to Tripura for the 2025-26 season. Vijay also played all of his age-group cricket, starting from U13 with Tamil Nadu. He has played 77 first-class matches, scoring 4253 runs and taking 43 wickets. Vijay also played 112 List A fixtures (2790 runs & 73 wickets) and 159 T20s (2583 runs & 38 wickets). Vijay began his IPL career with CSK in 2013, where he only played one game the following year. His next outings in the league came in 2017 in SRH colours where he played four matches. He was consistently involved with DC in 2018 (212 runs & 1 wicket) and back at SRH for the following three seasons in 2019, 2020 and 2021. He was then with Gujarat Titans in their title-winning season of 2022 but played just four games. His best season with the bat came in 2023, when he scored 301 runs at a strike rate of 160.10. In 2025, he got to play for CSK again, but he didn't sell at the next auction because he had a bad season. Vijay also earned India call-ups, playing 12 ODIs and 9 T20Is in 2018-19. This included being selected for the ODI World Cup 2019, where he was selected to play the crucial role of No. 4 batter. In English conditions, he could also contribute with handy medium pace and some swing. He played in just three matches in the tournament before an injury in the nets ruled him out, but he still came away with a memory for life - Vijay replaced Bhuvneshwar Kumar midway through an over against Pakistan and dismissed Imam Ul Haq on what was his first ball at the mega tournament. "Thankful to the BCCI and the Indian Cricket Team for many lessons learned, memories made, and inspirations received! Representing the country will be my highest badge of honour. Bowling the last over at India's 500th ODI at Nagpur and my first ball first wicket at the 2019 world cup are moments I will hold onto forever," he wrote. He talks about the ODI in Nagpur, where he helped India win its 500th ODI by defending 11 runs in the final over against Australia. Vijay thanked all his coaches, teammates and the teams from club cricket onwards in a lengthy message before calling out the hate he had recently received online. "I have faced unreal hate and negativity. Let me take this opportunity to let you know that I chose to ignore and move forward. Anyone can accomplish that if I can! Think positive and work hard. Cricket has taught me life. Vijay wrote, "Cricket is my life."