‘People Don’t Even Spare MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli’: India Allrounder, Who Played In 2019 World Cup, On Online Trolling

Vijay Shankar has so far played 12 ODIs and nine T20Is but has been out of national reckoning for quite sometime now.

Allrounder Vijay Shankar was a surprise pick for India at the 2019 World Cup. The then chief selector MSK Prasad had said then that he was a three-dimensional player and hence was picked up in the squad. Later, however, after Shankar had a forgettable World Cup campaign which ended with an injury, he was mercilessly trolled with the ‘3D’ reference. Shankar has so far played 12 ODIs and nine T20Is but has been out of national reckoning for quite sometime now. He currently plays for Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League.

When Shankar was selected for the World Cup, the Indian team was desperate for a solid No. 4 batter. Rayudu was primed for the slot but he was not picked surprisingly. He also took a jibe at MSK’s comment in a tweet which read: “Just Ordered a new set of 3d glasses to watch the world cup”

Recently, Shankar recalled those days of struggles, when he was trolled on social media. “It was very difficult initially. It is very easy to say that you should just ignore those noises, but it is not possible. With social media around, you tend to read everything, it goes into your mind. Those days, I must say, made me stronger,” Shankar said in an interview to Sportstar.

“I have seen things happening to MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and all the top players… people don’t even spare them. People appreciate them when things are going fine, but come hard at them in tough times. People who go through it know how difficult it is. I started thinking about what best I could do and not think about other stuff.”