Shoulder injury rules out Vijay Shankar from the 2nd unofficial Test against South Africa A

All-rounder Vijay Shankar, who is a part of the India A squad in the ongoing unofficial Test series in South Africa, has been ruled out of the second and final game of the series. Shankar suffered a shoulder injury during the first Test while batting in the first innings which kept him out of the remainder of the game. Though he won’t be available for the last game, Vijay will stay with the team as the precautionary test he underwent didn’t show any damage on his shoulder and has been advised rest of at least 10 days to recover.

He was hit by a bouncer on the 2nd day when he was batting on 26. Shankar couldn’t resume his innings after the Tea break due to the blow and was retired hurt. His absence pulled India A down and they couldn’t post a decent total in the first innings and were bowled out for a paltry 120. The visitors who were down to 10-men due to Shankar’s injury in the 2nd innings were set a target of 447 by the Proteas. They couldn’t challenge the total as the South Africans wrapped the innings up for just 211 with last 4 wickets falling in a space of 6 overs.

The incident

“Vijay tried to avoid a bouncer. But he was hit on the right shoulder and couldn’t carry on. He will not be in action for close 7-10 days. However, he will stay with the team and will return upon completion of the series,” TOI quoted a source as saying.

The Tamil Nadu skipper has had a close relationship with injuries in the past couple of years as he had suffered a shoulder injury earlier in 2015 while representing India A. Even last year, he suffered a knee injury, which put him out of the India A’s tour of Australia and also the inaugural edition of TNPL. Returning back to the fore Shankar led Tamil Nadu to clinch the 50-over titles in the All India Vijay Hazare Trophy and the Deodhar Trophy.