Was not able to get into my domestic team when I was the spinner: Vijay Shankar

Vijay Shankar, the prolific Indian all-rounder, had aspirations of becoming a spinner when he first started cricket. But somehow, it didn’t allow him to move ahead in his career. In order to turn his fortunes around, he resorted to bowling medium pace and it turned out be a crucial move in his journey. The 29-year-old plies his trade for Tamil Nadu in the domestic circuit.

He narrated the story on Instagram Live along with David Warner on the official handle of the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). Shankar was picked by the SRH franchise last season and performed reasonably well. Shankar said how even scoring runs at will couldn’t get him into the domestic side.

Things changed for me: Vijay Shankar

“I was not able to get into my domestic team when I was the spinner, I used to score runs but I did not manage to get into the side. Then I started bowling medium pace, and things really changed for me,” Shankar was quoted as saying during the chat with Warner.

Shankar made his debut for Tamil Nadu back in February 2012. From there on, he has taken part in 45 first-class, 88 List A and 90 T20 matches. Back in March 2018, Shankar made his India debut in the Nidahas Trophy in Sri Lanka. In the final of the tournament, he strained to get bat on ball and failed miserably. Thereafter, the all-rounder went out of contention.

However, in the very next year, he made his ODI debut against Australia at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. To add to his jubilation, he was also picked to play for Team India in the 2019 World Cup above the likes of Rishabh Pant and Ambati Rayudu. But after a couple of games, he developed an injury following which he was ruled out of the mega event.

Then he came back to play in the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL). Recently, he was a part of the India A team for the tour of New Zealand where he scored a couple of half-centuries. Prior to that, he also played in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the Ranji Trophy.