Vijay Shankar: The Indian all-rounder has clarified that there is no personal issue between himself and batsman Ambati Rayudu.
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India and Tamil Nadu all-rounder Vijay Shankar has admitted to be having thoughts of changing his state team in domestic cricket primarily because of his desire to bat at a higher (and consistent) batting number.
“I’ve not spoken to any team, or even Tamil Nadu about it till now. In the current situation, I’m really blank. It’s hard for me to say yes or no. But one year back I definitely had this thought of moving to some other state, because of the different batting orders that I was getting.
“As a cricketer, I need to keep performing. Only when I keep scoring runs, people will keep looking at me. For that, I need more time [in the middle], need to score lots of runs and pick wickets,” Shankar was quoted as saying by News18.
Shankar, who has also led Tamil Nadu in the recent past, is off the radar of the Indian selectors especially since the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. It was in that world event that Shankar had played the last of his 21 white ball matches for India.
While injuries and lack of form have affected Shankar’s pecking order as far as playing at the highest level is concerned, the 30-year old player believes that inconsistent batting numbers at Tamil Nadu and Sunrisers Hyderabad haven’t helped either.
Vijay Shankar quashes rumours of rift with Ambati Rayudu
Irrespective of what Shankar does on the field, he ends up getting compared to batsman Ambati Rayudu across social media platforms. The narrative had started after Shankar was preferred over Rayudu in the World Cup squad despite the latter doing considerably well in the build-up to the world event.
Former India wicket-keeper batsman and the then chief selector MSK Prasad favouring Shankar because of his “3D” skills followed by Rayudu’s tweet on the same worked against Shankar across social media platforms.
“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. Even in the IPL, my batting orders have been different.
“A lot of people compare me to [Ambati] 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 in social media at my expense,” Shankar said on being asked about social media trolling.
Further speaking on the matter, Shankar disclosed that there is no “personal issue” between himself and Rayudu and that the pair had a “super conversation” during their recent encounter.
“We talk well when we meet. There’s no personal issue between us. It just so happened that his tweet became viral. I definitely don’t have any grudge against Rayudu. Even when I met him recently in Delhi [during IPL 2021], we had a super conversation,” Shankar mentioned.
