Malaysia hosted the 1997 ICC Trophy, and Muniandy was in the Malaysian squad for the tournament. He played in the Saudara Cup and Stan Nagaiah Trophy in 1998, a year in which he made his List A debut for Malaysia against Pakistan International Airlines. He played four matches in the Wills Cup, a Pakistani domestic one-day tournament, also playing a List A match against Sri Lanka in September, as part of the cricket tournament of the 1998 Commonwealth Games, hosted in Kuala Lumpur. He played for Malaysia in the ACC Trophy the following month. He won the man of the match award after taking 4/11 against Hong Kong in the semi-final, but could not prevent Malaysia losing to Bangladesh in the final.