Of late, Vijay Shankar had a glorious stint with the Indian National Cricket Team. He impressed the team management with his brilliance with the bat in New Zealand and now, against Australia. He walked in tough phases of the game and settled the ship for his side. Meanwhile, Sanjay Manjrekar backs Vijay Shankar to bat at number 4 ahead of Ambati Rayudu.
The batting all-rounder has always been a scarcity for India in the International cricket. After Kapil Dev, we hardly got a player with a stature like him. After quite a time, India got a leap of faith with Hardik Pandya delivering the goods in both sections of the game. Now, they got one more player in the form of Vijay Shankar, who is a batting dominant all-rounder.
Play Vijay Shankar as a batsman – Sanjay Manjrekar
After the latest move of Virat Kohli at number 4, there were quite a few debates in the town. In one of them, Manjkrekar felt that Vijay Shankar got the calibre to play at number 4 for the team.
He also made sure that India should not expect a full quota of overs from Vijay Shankar. Manjrekar believes that Shankar is good to bowl 3-4 overs in a successful manner. He strongly feels that Vijay can deliver goods with the bat for India.
“Vijay Shankar is my number 4 for his ability to hit sixes as well as rotate the strike. Play him as a batsman. As a bowler, he’s worth only three-odd bonus overs, not seven or the full quota of 10,” Sanjak Manjrekar said to Times of India on the sidelines during the 4th ODI game at Mohali.
Vijay Shankar’s rise put Ambati Rayudu’s place in question:
Further, Sanjay added that he felt Rayudu has cemented his place for the world cup after the stunning knock in Wellington. But, now, he added that Vijay Shankar’s rise and Rayudu’s three consecutive failures have changed the scenario.
“After his 90 against New Zealand in Wellington, I was sure he had cemented his spot. But three low scores and the rise of Vijay Shankar thereafter have put his place in question,” he continued.
India should play Virat Kohli at number 3:
He also strongly believes that India should not tinker the batting position of Virat Kohli. Sanjay added that Kohli has shown the winning way for India and he should be playing the game at the very same position.
”Stay up to date on results for “He must bat at No. 3. There is no point in demoting our best batsman, who has set the winning culture in this team,” he inferred.
Well, it would be interesting to see how things would pan out. India has already given enough chances for Rayudu in the ODI format. However, the best possible way for him to make a mark will be the platform of IPL 2019.