Vijay Shankar defends himself, credits Mustafizur for exceptional bowling skills

Team India registered a thrilling win in the finals of the recently concluded Nidahas Trophy. It was sensational win for the Men in Blue. For a major part of the run chase, they looked like missing the trick. It was a whirlwind unbeaten 29 off 8 balls from Dinesh Karthik that sealed the game for them. The tournament gave a lot of positives to the Indian team, including the performances of new recruits like Vijay Shankar and Washington Sundar.

All-rounder Vijay Shankar had a very impressive outing in the tournament with the ball. However, in the finals, he had a very bad outing. After conceding 48 runs in his spell, he got his first opportunity to bat in the series. He ended up struggling big time. In the 18th over of the match, when the team needed over 13 runs per over, he ended up played four dot balls in a row.

This hurt the Indian chances a lot. Recently, he recalled the moment and defended himself. He cited that he is someone who often keeps rotating strikes. He credited the skills of Mustafizur Rahman for bowling well in that particular over.

“If you take a look at my batting in the Syed Mushtaq Ali or Vijay Hazare Trophy, I don’t play so many dot balls. I rotate the strike but Mustafizur (Rahman) really bowled well during that over,” Shankar was quoted as saying by PTI.

Not enjoying the moment

Commenting further on the same note, Vijay Shankar admitted that he did not enjoy the moment as much as everyone else did. He mentioned that he was thinking about his own failure in the game when the rest of the team rejoiced in joy of winning the tournament final. He rightly cited that he was served with an opportunity to become a national hero on the day, and he let it go.

“When everyone was rejoicing after the final, I was feeling very disheartened at how things panned out. It was an opportunity given to me to become a hero. I should have finished the match,” he added further.

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