Vijay Shankar Is A Fine Player But Has Had A Lot Of Injuries - Ravichandran Ashwin On The All-rounder's Fitness

Senior India offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin points out the aspect of why his Tamil Nadu teammate Vijay Shankar has gone off the radar of the national side.

On the back of his 3-dimensional characteristics, Shankar was even taken to the 2019 World Cup where he played 3 games. Post the tournament, however, the right-hander was casted aside and never featured for India again.

Ravichandran Ashwin reckons Shankar’s struggles with injury have dented his career. He says that while the Sunrisers Hyderabad all-rounder is a good player, his tussles with injuries regularly has hurt his cricket, especially as he grows older.

“Vijay is a fine player who has played the World Cup and has a lot of experience. He has had a lot of injuries and there is no better person to understand it (injuries) better than me. Sometimes people are not sensitive to injury,” Ravichandran  Ashwin told The New Indian Express.

“Vijay Shankar has definitely struggled, but he will find a solution and can get his injuries sorted. It doesn’t become easy to manage injuries as you grow old. Vijay is about 30-31 years old and to manage injuries when you get older is harder,” he added.

We should look to utilise Shankar’s experience and blend it with the youngsters: Ravichandran  Ashwin

Ravichandran  Ashwin suggests that the experience of players like Vijay Shankar would be useful in nurturing youngsters in the Tamil Nadu side, led by Dinesh Karthik currently. The all-rounder has played 12 ODIs and 9 T20Is for India, but wasn’t able to make a bigger impact on the side and was replaced by Shivam Dube, who, too, finds himself out of the setup for the moment.

“So I think we must give right roles and we must balance it with youngsters coming in and seniors. We should look for a way forward, utilise Vijay Shankar’s experience and also blend it with the youngsters. It will be good for TN cricket if we strike a good balance and give more opportunities for youngsters.

“B Indrajith, B Aparajith and Vijay Shankar have been the backbone of Tamil Nadu cricket for a while (5 -8 years), but there are a lot of promising youngsters also coming through. It’s a matter of managing roles and giving seniors the right role,” the off-spinner stated.

Speaking about Ravichandran  Ashwin, he along with the Indian team will soon depart for the UK for the WTC final against New Zealand, followed by a 5-Test series with hosts England. The off-spinner has been in supreme form, having bagged the Man of the Series in the last series versus England at home.

Also Read: Trent Boult Unlikely To Feature In The Test Series Against England: New Zealand Head Coach Gary Stead