Vijay Shankar

A late bloomer by Indian standards, Vijay Shankar has turned out to be a consistent performer for Tamil Nadu across all formats of the game. A highly rated middle-order batsman, he is a more than useful medium-pacer as well, a skill that has earned him a place in the Indian national team.

Vijay Shankar hails from a family of cricketers, his father and brother Ajay has played lower division cricket for Tamil Nadu. Although his career has seen several disruptions due to injury, Vijay has carved a niche for himself in Tamil Nadu's middle-order, particularly after the exit of long-serving batsman, Subramanium Badrinath.

He made his debut as a first-class cricketer in 2012 and it took him two years to stamp his authority at the first-class level. In the 2014-15 Ranji season, Vijay came into the selectors reckoning with two Man of the match awards. In the knockouts that year he made scores of 111, 82, 91 and 103. These stellar performances weren't unnoticed as he was selected for the India 'A' team soon.

Genuine all-rounders are a rare commodity in Indian cricket and Vijay Shankar's solidity with the bat and usefulness with the ball earned him a place in the national team for the Nidahas Trophy featuring Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In his debut tournament, he secured the Man of the Match award in the league stage for his bowling.

Vijay Shankar - the man who has never played World Cup cricket before, and was barely in the reckoning for the national team about a year ago. The pace-bowling all-rounder lost his place in the side after a panic attack in the Nidahas Trophy final in 2018, but an off-field controversy involving Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul offered Shankar a route back into the side, and some decent performances in the middle-order in 2019, and a pressure last-over finish with the ball, earned him the much-debated number 4 spot going into the 2019 World Cup, ahead of a dreadfully out-of-form Ambati Rayudu. His emergence ahead of the 2019 World Cup meant India went into the tournament with the rare luxury of having 2 seam bowling all-rounders in a potential first XI. However, an injury cut short his participation in his maiden World Cup appearance. It also signalled the end of his short international career with India looking ahead into the future.

Vijay Shankar though continues to be a part of Tamil Nadu's domestic cricket and has played part roles across several India Premier Leagie (IPL) franchises, his power-hitting and pace bowling being a major attraction across different franchises.