Vijay Shankar the former Railways Player and current Tamil Nadu cricketer have gained wide popularity after winning a close match for India in the 2nd ODI against Australia at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur. India had to defend 11 runs in the final over and their strike bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami were left out of overs.
Kohli handed the ball to Shankar who just took 3 deliveries to finish the game, taking the big wicket of Marcus Stoinis at that Stage who was playing the role of a finisher, and finally getting Adam Zampa as the last wicket to win the match for India. Shankar also produced 46 runs with the bat in the first innings of that match where he was unfortunately run-out by Adam Zampa at Non-Striker’s end.
WATCH – Vijay Shankar Makes His Debut On Chahal TV
Lakshmipathy Balaji the coach of Tamil Nadu Cricket team in an interview with SportStar talked about the ability of Vijay Shankar stating that “He has shown us only 50 percent of his ability. He can do a lot more damage”
The former Indian pacer had also separately prepared Shankar ahead of Australia’s tour of India regarding facing different types of bowlers, for examples studying on Jason Behrendorff’s angle of left-arm around the wicket Shankar was made to practice with a guard just outside his leg-stump, he allowed his back-foot to move towards the middle-stump and play the balls with complete freedom.
Shankar also bats with the steel rod with the same length and weight of a bat with the intention of middling the ball and avoid edges. Later this helps to bat easily with the regular bat. Shankar used to face nearby 500 balls without even taking any break, in which he faced 300 off them coming forward on front foot.
WATCH – Vijay Shankar Bowled A Brilliant Final Over
Balaji also added that Shankar is very balanced and has a top-hand grip that gives him a lot of fluency.
He was an off-spinner earlier and when Balaji convinced him, he converted into a pacer and he started bowling with shorter run-ups which are a good sign for easy wickets and Balaji has adviced him to use his shoulder and wrist more. When he made a successful defended in that final over against Australia, Balaji was very much delighted with the 28-year-old.
