All-rounder Vijay Shankar trolled for his ‘I can be like Jacques Kallis or Shane Watson’ statement
Out of favour all-rounder Vijay Shankar is getting trolled by people on social media ever since he said in an interview that he could be like Jacques Kallis or Shane Watson for Team India. The 31-year-old last represented India in World Cup 2019 league match against West Indies in Manchester. Since then, he has been expecting a return to the Indian dressing room.
In a recent interview with Cricket Next, Shankar stated that he has the capability to bat higher up in the order. He added that he can be an all-rounder like Kallis and Watson – who have opened the innings and bowled brilliantly as well.
“Even if I get to bat at No. 5 right through, I’m okay with that. If I know that that is my batting slot, I will prepare accordingly in a different way. For Tamil Nadu and even in the IPL, if you see the batting positions that I have played in, it was all in different positions. Mostly after No. 6. I hardly have any overs to bat in most of the games. And it has come to a stage where I’ve become a 30-40 (runs) player. With that, I can’t push myself to play for the country.
“If I have to score runs, I need to spend more time on the crease. So I’m not saying I want to open the batting. Just saying, even if I bat at No. 4 or 5, let it be one slot at least for domestic. And then if I don’t score runs, drop me, I’m okay. That’s what I have missed out in the last two years,” Shankar was quoted as saying.
“I’m an all-rounder, but I’m known for my batting. So just because I’m an all-rounder, it shouldn’t be like I should bat only at No. 6 or 7. I can also be someone like Jacques Kallis or Shane Watson. They open the innings or bat at No. 3 and bowl. It’s not a compulsion that an all-rounder has to bat at No. 6-7. If I can score runs at the top, and pick wickets, it’s good for the team too, right?” he added.
Shankar’s statement didn’t go down too well with the followers of the game. The Twitterati trolled the all-rounder for his comment by sharing memes on the micro-blogging site. Here are some of the reactions.