Vijay Shankar: ‘I can be like Watson or Kallis’
Two years back, Vijay Shankar was backed so much that he was selected to the Indian squad for the ICC World Cup in England. Since then, though, he has not been picked to the Indian side even once and has fallen off the selection radar. Despite India having a perennial dearth of medium pace bowling all-rounders. Their premier all-rounder of that variety – Hardik Pandya – being injured for a large part.
Vijay has fallen off the radar. But he has also become a subject of vicious, and often mindless, trolling in social media. Based on his performances in IPL, plenty of fans have wondered how ‘3D’ Vijay even made it to the Indian team for the World Cup, played in a different format.
But is Vijay Shankar as bad as the trolls make him out to be? Did the selectors have no reason to pick him for the World Cup? Here’s what they would have seen.
In recent interviews with News 18, the out-of-favor all-rounder spoke at length about his batting capabilities. Shankar also gave an honorable mention to legendary all-rounders Jacques Kallis and Shane Watson. Shankar suggested that could be like Kallis or Watson for the Virat Kohli-led Team India.
Shankar, who was last seen in action in IPL 2021 for the Sunrisers Hyderabad, said he played no role in the three-dimensional discussions.
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“I have no connection to that. They gave me a tag randomly and made it viral. But after that tweet, I played three games for India in the World Cup and did decently. I didn’t do anything bad,” Shankar said.
“A lot of people compare me to Rayudu, but the batting orders and conditions we play in are different. It’s okay to even compare, but at least see which slots we’re batting in. A lot of people don’t know that. They don’t see that, and they just want to enjoy on social media at my expense,” he added.
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