‘It was embarrassing for me’ – Vijay Shankar recalls 2018 Nidahas Trophy Final

Vijay Shankar, had a terrible outing in the 2018 Nidahas Trophy Final, though India beat Bangladesh by four wickets courtesy a last-ball six from Dinesh Karthik. Shankar was India’s most expensive bowler, conceding 48 runs off four overs. Then when he came to bat, he couldn’t get bat to ball. When the Men in Blue needed to score at a rate of around 11, he managed 17 off 19.

Going down the memory lane, the Tamil Nadu cricketer told how embarrassing it was for him after the horrendous day. It was then that former cricketers, Laxmipathy Balaji and Subramaniam Badrinath’s words of wisdom motivated him to move ahead.

I remembered these lessons: Vijay Shankar

“I learnt two big lessons at an early stage from Badri and Bala (L Balaji). Badri said to me – ‘if you’re good enough no one can stop you from playing at the highest level’. And Bala told me – ‘life is all about handling embarrassments.’

“While it sounded something big at that time but when I started experiencing it, I understood it really well,” Shankar was quoted as saying during the show Mind Masters by MFORE on Star Sports 1.

In the last three overs of the game, India needed 35 runs and Shankar played four dot balls on the trot off Mustafizur Rahman. The over turned out to be a wicket maiden and the Bangladesh pacer also got rid of Manish Pandey in the last delivery.

“After Nidahas trophy, it was embarrassing for me. While overcoming these embarrassments, I remembered these lessons shared by them and it helped,” he added.

Shankar got a boundary in the last over, bringing the target down to five off two balls. But then, he got out to Soumya Sarkar, caught by Mehidy Hasan Miraz. However, he managed to cross over, putting Karthik on strike.

After the match, Shankar has represented the national team quite a few times. In 12 ODIs and nine T20Is, the 29-year-old has 324 runs and nine wickets. He was also a part of India’s campaign in the 2019 World Cup, though he got ruled out midway through the tournament. He last played for India A in the tour of New Zealand back in January-February.