From Nidahas trophy to Nagpur: The three phases of Vijay Shankar's journey

#3 Turning into a hero at Nagpur:

He turned to be a hero at Nagpur

Vijay Shankar once again displayed his ability to make adversity his friend. Promoted to bat at number 5 with the score reading 75/3 and the run-rate hovering around 4, Shankar displayed his cricketing nous to stunning effect.

He kept the scoring rate ticking over with captain Virat Kohli at the other end with a bunch of singles and doubles, and took full toll of the bad deliveries by hammering them to the boundary. Batting on an attractive-looking 46 from just 41 deliveries, an unfortunate run-out detonated his promising knock, but whispers were already abounding on social media platforms that he could be looked into as a more durable option at number 4 instead of Ambati Rayudu.

But his job wasn’t yet over for the day. With Australia chasing 251 on a slightly tacky pitch, the Indian bowlers had dragged them back into the game at a point where the Aussies were in cruise control of the match.

Australia needed 11 runs in the last over with 2 wickets in hand and all-rounder Marcus Stoinis going strong at the crease. Confronted with a lack of options, Kohli turned to Shankar, whose only over in the game had leaked 13 runs.

This was a gamble which could’ve backfired spectacularly for India, but clearly, this was a man who had a stream of confidence running through him. On the very first delivery, Shankar struck gold and picked up Marcus Stoinis as his first-ever ODI wicket with an LBW decision and then two balls later, he killed the game with a pin-point yorker to dismiss Adam Zampa, to cap off his best-ever display in his limited international career.

Shankar’s journey over the last year has taken him from being the metaphorical villain to India’s latest hero. Talk about life going a full circle.