Vijay Shankar finally responds to Ambati Rayudu’s 3-D Tweet ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in a popular chat show
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Vijay Shankar has finally opened up on Ambati Rayudu’s ‘3-D Tweet’ after the latter’s exclusion from India’s World Cup squad announced last month.
Ambati Rayudu couldn’t gulp down the fact that he was not picked in the 15-member squad, especially after his relatively good average at no.4 in the recent past. He was, in fact replaced by the all-rounder from Tamil Nadu- Vijay Shankar, after his string of good performances in the limited-overs format prior the squad announcement.
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The selectors went in for the all-rounder as he brought in all the 3 dimensions- batting, bowling, and fielding to the team. Rayudu was, right till the end of 2018 the go-to man for India at the no.4 spot.
Rayudu, post his exclusion news took a jibe apparently at the selectors, and posted a tweet with the caption-“Just Ordered a new set of 3d glasses to watch the world cup”. The right-hander’s explicit display of hurt on social media, went viral real quick with some criticising the move by the selectors, while some defending Rayudu.
How did Vijay Shankar react?
Vijay Shankar has finally come up with his reply to Rayudu’s tweet. In a popular chat show, ‘Breakfast with Champions’, hosted by Gaurav Kapur, the all-rounder defended Ambati on his tweet, and empathized with him as he could relate to the feeling the right-handed batsmen might have gone through.
“I know for the fact that how a cricketer would feel if they are not being picked. I can understand from a player’s point of view. And I know for the fact that he didn’t mean it to me. It was just that he put that tweet for the sake of it. I can understand the situation in which he was. It is fine for any cricketer,” said Vijay Shankar answering the question about how he felt about this tweet.
Shankar also added that both of them met twice in the IPL against each other during the league stage, and there were no personal issues between the two.
After a relatively good 2018 with the bat in the 50-over format, Rayudu’s poor run of form in Australia and New Zealand, and again during the home series against Australia, forced the selectors to rope in an all-rounder in the team. Although, it is still not clear as to whether Shankar will get to bat at no.4 or not.
