Vijay Shankar pleased with his performance in IPL 10

The glitzy glory tournament Indian Premier League has in the past either made a player’s career, or it has broken them. Some of the examples of career being made by the tournament are Mumbai Indian’s very own pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah. The competition gave the youngster just the right amount of exposure to succeed in the Indian jersey.

Tamil Nadu’s state captain and an uncapped player in the Sunrisers Hyderabad squad Vijay Shankar too knows the effects of the competition. Last year, during Sunrisers Hyderabad‘s successful campaign the all-rounder from Tamil Nadu had to sit out for most of the matches waiting for the chance to arrive. This season, however, the all-rounder came into the tournament after an incredible domestic season with Tamil Nadu winning both the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Deodhar Trophy titles.

“Last year, sometimes I got overawed with the company or couldn’t focus because of consistent niggles. This time, even though I was one of the last to join the camp, I was confident. I was hitting the ball well and working really hard,” Vijay told Express.

His chance to don the orange jersey finally came when he started the match against the finalists Mumbai Indians, coming in to bat in the 18th over of the innings before holing out to the deep in the 19th. His appearances since then have been limited to substitute’s, and with two brilliant pieces of fielding, he returned to the playing XI.

Hard work pays off

“I kept training hard, in practice as well as in the gym. I kept myself prepared for any eventuality. A player might get injured and my chance might come. I was working behind the scenes with coach Tom Moody and bowling coach Muttiah Muralitharan.

“All of us (uncapped players) were paired with senior stars and working with Kane Williamson broadened my horizon with regards to batting. Watching the likes of David Warner, Yuvraj Singh prepare ahead of a game taught me a lot,” added the all-rounder.

The coaching staff that included the likes of Tom Moody and Indian great VVS Laxman never took their eyes off from the talented all-rounder, often gave him advice of great value.

“We were a closely-knit bunch. I kept hanging out with Siddarth Kaul and Bipul Sharma. My practice routine caught the eye of VVS Laxman. He came up to me before the game against Gujarat and told me that my hard work will pay off. He told me to enjoy my game and I kept that in mind when I went out to bat,” Shankar said.

He got his opportunity in the game against the struggling Gujarat Lions side. The domestic captain made use of the opportunity and bagged home his first half-century in the competition.

“Watching Warner was a learning experience. He never tried to go hammer and tongs and played proper cricketing strokes. I tried the same, which resulted in the highest IPL partnership (133) without a six,” Vijay said in the interview.

Finally, the all-rounder concluded by thanking the Sunrisers team for giving him this great opportunity of proving his worth in the squad. He also talked about how luck did not go down in Sunrisers favour when they faced the mighty test of Kolkata Knight Riders.

“Luck deserted us at a crucial time. Personally, interacting with international stars helped my the understanding of the game. Hopefully, I can carry this forward and improve my game,” he signed off.