ICC World Cup 2019: Murali Kartik questions Vijay Shankar carrying drinks despite toe niggle

On June 30, India lost their first game of the World Cup after five straight victories. Virat Kohli and Co lost at the hands of hosts England by 31 runs at the Edgbaston in Birmingham. The run-chase of 338 turned out to be a bridge too far for the Men in Blue. India went into the game with one change, replacing Vijay Shankar with Rishabh Pant, who played his first game of the mega event.

After the Brits won the toss and elected to bat first, Kohli, the Indian captain, said that the 28-year-old Shankar has a toe niggle owing to which he missed out. The decision to include Pant worked to some extent if not a whole lot as the southpaw got 32 off 29 and was also involved in a 52-run stand with Rohit Sharma. Meanwhile, former Indian cricketer, Murali Kartik isn’t happy by any means.

During the game, the Tamil Nadu-born Shankar, who was told to be injured, was seen carrying drinks. Kartik questioned Shankar doing the running despite the niggle. Murali Kartik took to Twitter and wrote, “If Vijay Shankar has a toe niggle and that’s the reason not to play why is he running drinks.. No one else there to do that job…. #CWC19,”

Here is Kartik’s tweet

The wrong signals

Earlier when the 21-year-old Pant was picked in the eleven ahead of Dinesh Karthik, Kartik showed his displeasure. He said that it doesn’t send the right signals across the team. When the final squad was picked, Karthik was selected as MS Dhoni’s backup as the wicketkeeper, but he hasn’t gotten a chance yet in the main round after featuring in the warm-up matches.

He also put forth how the Delhi-born Virat backed both Shankar and Ambati Rayudu and later sidelining them, the latter not even being a part of the 15-member squad. Kartik also didn’t mince any words in saying that with the signals currently being delivered, the people are going to think that there are more things that play around rather than just cricketing merit alone.

As far as the tournament is concerned, India is placed second in the points table with 11 points from seven matches. Their next match is versus Mashrafe Mortaza’s Bangladesh on July 2 at the Edgbaston itself and another victory would confirm them a berth in the semi-finals.