As Vijay Shankar was involved in a last-over fiasco in the final of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy day before yesterday, my mind instantly flashed back to the scenes from Nagpur in March this year, when Vijay played the pivotal part in another such intense climax. He had successfully defended 10 runs off the last over against the Aussies, and had played a wonderful stroke-filled knock in the first innings to almost lock in his place for the final fifteen of the World Cup squad. Let us see a quick summary of Vijay Shankar’s international career so far and also let us also try to understand if his exile from Team India after the ODI World Cup 2019 is fair or not.
The highs and the lows in Shankar’s short career
Vijay’s case has been a curious one in recent times. He was drafted into the squad during Hardik Pandya’s suspension from the national team in January. And what followed him was a period of absolute highs followed with some over-exaggerated lows. The highs were when he made the most of his opportunities to cement his spot in the final squad. And the lows were when he was made a scapegoat by the masses to ensure that a certain Rishabh Pant is allowed to pave his way into the team during the World Cup.
To be fair to Vijay, he was meddled under a very mismanaged situation, where he was subjected to a very relishing cushion by the think-tank, and then felled from that position of comfort as soon as the situation turned a bit iffy. MSK Prasad came out in public and announced that the all-rounder would be India’s first-choice batsman for the number four position in the World Cup. Then, it took just one century by KL Rahul to dethrone Vijay from that role.
Though it was a widely celebrated decision, the latter had to bear the brunt of it accordingly, as his place was never really settled in the team, despite the entire hullabaloo surrounding him suggesting it to be so.
Vijay Shankar’s skill-set
Let us get it straight here; Vijay is not a player who can make the entire crowd of people focus their attention on him by his mere presence on the field. He is not as flashy as some of his teammates, refrains from committing maverick-like gimmicks and hasn’t lit up the IPL yet in any of the seasons that he has played in the tournament.
Yet, he does possess a skill-set that suggests that he can make it count on the international stage, and does require the adequate backing for it.
Saving the team in a difficult situation
Be it Wellington or Nagpur, Vijay stood tall amongst all his teammates when the going had gotten difficult. He demonstrated the armory necessary for a batsman to succeed in testing circumstances. Unfortunately, these innings didn’t comprise of some expansive shots that would make the people glare at him in awe. And hence the immense pressure that was mounted on him by the laymen, during the course of the time that he spent with the squad in the World Cup.
Never forget though, that it was such trying times that most of the Indian batsmen failed to abide by in the semifinal against New Zealand. And it was for tackling this exact situation, the atmosphere and the obstacle, for which Vijay Shankar was brought into the World Cup squad in the first place.
He showcased a compact technique that was adept to deal with the moving ball in overcast conditions and could supplement it with his useful bowling that could bear results under the looming clouds.
Why exiled from the team now?
Sure, the injury ceased his further involvement in that tournament. But why is he being incessantly ignored thereafter in all the squad selections despite recovering back his fitness and playing an integral role in Tamil Nadu’s run to the finals in both the Vijay Hazare Trophy and then the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy?
Is a player, who was well equipped enough to play in the number four slot during the World Cup now not good enough to be in the best XV for an ODI series against West Indies?
Questions have always remained unquestioned under this selection committee and the management. MSK Prasad would possibly sneak out of the mess that he has created over the years, but the problems would continue to persist. Vijay is only an example, a personification of the ruckus that is constituted, criticized and then conveniently forgotten all the time.
What is fair and what is not?
It is the basic courtesy to allow a player who was assured with the certainty of starting a game in the World Cup to be inbred back into the squad, once he successfully recovers back his fitness that hampered his progress in that tournament.
Shreyas Iyer, who can be considered his replacement of sorts in the time being, has impressed one and all with his fantastic displays in the given opportunities. He has demonstrated the necessary talents required to be given the mantle of the middle order in the long term.
But that does not in any way take away the fact that Vijay Shankar was robbed of his chance once the mega tournament concluded.
Vijay is 28 years old. He has sweated it out in the domestic circuit for years now. He has polished his skills, bettered them over time and added certain dimensions to his game that could turn out to be extremely effective and efficient in the longer run.
His bowling needs some improvement but when looked at solely as a batsman, there are very few reasons for him to be shackled under this absolute pandemonium of a situation that the Indian team undergoes in cycles after a tournament.
They make telling changes, back these decisions wholly in front of the people, but pull the trigger button as soon as the scenario encounters some moments of doom. Eventually, they tend to end up in the middle of nowhere, searching for credible options when needed the most, and not capitalizing on the weapons that they already possess at that point in time.
Conclusion
Often in life, and even in a game of chess, the pawn is the one who has to surrender, so that the major forces behind them remain untouched in an onerous phase of the game. To start from ground zero, you relinquish the characters that can be moved out without it being much of an issue amongst the followers. This usually does not improve the chances of the team by any fair margin. But it does give them a hanging schlemiel to project in front of the audience; a fall guy. It remains to be seen for how long Vijay Shankar stays at the receiving end of this turmoil.
Related Reading:
- CPL 2020 Top Performers (Most Runs, Wickets, Catches, Sixes)
- ICC Hall Of Fame 2020 Inductees: Kallis, Sthalekar & Abbas
- India Tour Of Australia 2020-21 Full Schedule (T20I,Test,ODI)
- Gambhir Reminds Afridi An Important Record Refuting Quote In Afridi’s Book
- Tendulkar, Lara, Kohli & Other Cricketers with MRF Bats
- Ranji Trophy 2019/20: Top Performers (Most Runs, Wickets, Catches, Dismissals)
Leave a Reply