M Vijay was born in Trichy, Tamil Nadu. M Vijay started his cricket at the age of 17. He first played club cricket in Chennai representing Alwarpet in 2003. He was then selected in the Tamil Nadu Under-22 squad for the 2004-05 CK Nayudu Trophy. Tamil Nadu Under-22 won the tournament, but, opening the innings, Vijay averaged just 26.45 in 6 matches. He continued to play club cricket in 2005, before getting selected again in the Tamil Nadu Under-22 squad for the 2005-06 CK Nayudu Trophy. He failed to impress once again, averaging 26.50 in 3 matches.

Despite his below-average performances in club cricket and Under-22 tournaments, Vijay was selected in the Tamil Nadu squad for the Ranji One-day Trophy in February 2006. He made his senior cricket debut in Tamil Nadu’s last group fixture of the tournament, against Karnataka on 16 February, and scored 17 in that match. He scored 38 in the quarterfinal against Railways who won the match by one run.

In September 2008, Vijay was picked in the India A team to play against the touring New Zealand A team in two 4-day matches. He carried on his good form and made 45 and 59 in the first match, batting at 3, helping India A win by 129 runs. He opened the innings and scored 98 and 0 in the second match, in which New Zealand A secured victory. In October 2008, Vijay was named in the India Red team for the Challenger Trophy. He played as an opener and finished second among highest run-scorers of the tournament with 164 runs from 3 matches at an average of 54.66.

Vijay made his Test debut against Australia in the Fourth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, in Nagpur, in November 2008. He was selected for the match after Gautam Gambhir received a one-Test ban for elbowing Shane Watson in the Third Test of the same series in Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi. Vijay was participating in a Ranji trophy match at the time, and made his Test debut on the final day of that match.

In December 2009, Vijay was given another opportunity in the Test team when Gambhir withdrew from the Third and final Test against Sri Lanka at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai in order to attend his sister’s wedding. Vijay took two catches at bat pad from Harbhajan in Sri Lanka’s first innings. When India replied, he put on 221 for the first wicket with Sehwag, but was out for 87 in sight of his maiden Test century. The Indians went on to complete an innings victory, and become the number 1 Test team.

Vijay was taken on the tour of Bangladesh in January 2010 as the reserve batsman, and he was called into the team after V. V. S. Laxman injured a finger in the First Test. Vijay played in the Second Test in Mirpur in Laxman’s No. 5 position, scoring 30. In the same match, No. 3 batsman Rahul Dravid was injured after being hit under the jaw by a bouncer, so Vijay then played in Dravid’s position in the two-Test home series against South Africa.

He was later selected as the reserve opener for away series against Sri Lanka in August 2010 and the home series against Australia in October 2010. He played in the Second and Third Tests against Sri Lanka after Gambhir was injured. He got another opportunity when Gambhir, was injured in the first match against Australia and was ruled out of Second Test. Vijay scored 139 runs in the first innings, his maiden Test century, featuring in a triple century partnership with Sachin Tendulkar. Vijay and debutant Cheteshwar Pujara added 72 runs crucial partnership which helped India complete a 2–0 series win.

Vijay debuted in ODIs against South Africa in the third and final one dayer on 27 Feb 2010. He scored a brisk 25 runs off 16 balls.

Vijay played for IPL franchise from his home town Chennai Super Kings till the sixth edition and represented Delhi Daredevils in IPL7. He was one of the key performers for Chennai in the 3rd edition of IPL in 2010 when Chennai were crowned champions. His first century for Chennai Super Kings was in the third season where he scored 127 runs off 56 balls against the Rajasthan Royals. He was awarded the Man of the Match. In the same year, Vijay had prolific run in the Champions League T20 held in South Africa. Vijay was the top scorer of the tournament with 294 runs. He was instrumental in Chennai winning the cup.

Though he was dropped from the national squad, however he was brought back in the 2013 home series against Australia replacing out-of-form Gautam Gambhir. Though Vijay failed in the first test, he scored an assured and well paced 167 in the second Test and put on a 370-run record second wicket partnership with Cheteshwar Pujara (204). In the third test at Mohali, he scored his second consecutive 150+ score (153) with a strong opening stand of 289 with debutant Shikhar Dhawan, who scored a whopping 187 off just 174 balls. And then added on 92 runs for the third wicket with Sachin Tendulkar (37). He had an amazing series against Australia and was the highest scorer with 430 runs including two centuries both which were 150+ and an amazing half century.

Vijay made his first Test century outside India on 10 July 2014 at Trent Bridge against England when he scored 146. He also made a gutsy half-century in the next innings of the same match.

He scored his sixth Test hundred in the one-match Test series against Bangladesh in June 2015.

In April 2016, Vijay was named captain of Kings XI Punjab replacing South African David Miller in middle of the season. He missed out the entire 2017 season due to a wrist surgery.