Vijay Shankar is a bright prospect

[Gollum]

Your thoughts?

 

I personally feel he can be a good #4 in ODIs under prevailing circumstances. Solid bat, min 4 overs per match, good enough fielder. But more importantly I see him as a replacement for the struggling Rahane in the test team. He can work on his bowling in the meantime and at least try to become a Collingwood, Ian Harvey, Astle type bowler...if not better. Actually I see a lot of Collingwood in him. Decent FC credentials too. 

 

He adds flexibility to the XI..in ODIs he and Jadhav can be the 6th/7th bowlers if we consider Pandya as the 5th bowler. In tests again he won't be needed much in SC but in SENA he can get his quota of 5-8 overs per day as 5th/6th bowler. I think he can play a vital role in swinging conditions, dibbly-dobblies are tricky in England especially. Good fielder, large hands...can be groomed as a slip catcher as well methinks. 

 

PS: He shouldn't be in the scheme of things in T20 based on what I have seen, dunno about IPL...so maybe I am wrong. 

Edited March 5, 2019 by Gollum

[velu]

surely better than biriyani .. 

[Forever Indian]

Completely agree, should be in the XI for ODIs and Tests. A technically proper bat which is what India needs atm, other than Kohli and Pujara (in tests) we don't have technically well equipped players which is the reason for our collapses in both format.

Edited March 5, 2019 by Forever Indian

[ShoonyaSifar]

Has been very impressive. Needs a longer run and preferably at one position. Doesn't help that younger players are being moved around all the time and asked to adjust while the seniors have almost a fixed spot match after match.

[Nikola]

I hope he plays at #4. Rayudu even when he scores doesn't give alot confidence. Shankar looks settled atleast & can give few overs + is better fielder than Rayudu.

[philcric]

If he plays well in the remaining ODIs and has a decent IPL, he should be in the WC squad.

 

As someone who can bat in the top 6 and be the 6th/7th bowler.

 

His bowling is not good enough at this point, but if Jadhav or Hardik get injured, he is the only option to go to if the strategy is not to weaken the batting by too much by playing 5 specialist bowlers.

 

Ideally he should replace Rayudud at #4, and be the 7th bowling option should Hardik or Jadhav are having a bad day with the ball.

 

[Gollum]

5 minutes ago, philcric said:

If he plays well in the remaining ODIs and has a decent IPL, he should be in the WC squad.

I don't think T20 is his strongest suit. He should be in WC squad irrespective of IPL performance...T20 success/failure shouldn't have much to do with 50 over cricket.  

[Real McCoy]

Shankar is a better bat than Rayudu. Shankar missed out because they saw him as an utility player/all rounder. Also he looked comfortable than Rayudu in the 5th ODI in NZ. Rayudu was batting at a SR of 50 when he ran out Shankar. He was trying to run him out twice if I remember. It seemed like he deliberately did it. Also today he was unlucky to get run out like that. I will give him more opportunities at 4 than Rayudu. I would put Rayudu as back up for Shankar.

[DHONI_FANN]

Definitely better than blood sucking leech Biriyani

[Ankit_sharma03]

said this long long back i have seen him bat enough, he is a quality quality batsman 

A must in Indian team....lambi race ka ghoda. 

 

dont confuse him as an all rounder, he is a batsman who can bowl

[sandeep]

2 hours ago, velu said:

surely better than biriyani .. 

Looks very promising. But lets keep in mind that he's new. Sophomore slump is a real thing.  Few more games at the int'l level, and teams will start identifying his weak and strong zones.  But a quality option so far.  And I love the fact that he has come back strong after that nightmare Nidahas game.  Resilience is an under-rated an uncommon trait.  

[Ankit_sharma03]

3 minutes ago, sandeep said:

Looks very promising. But lets keep in mind that he's new. Sophomore slump is a real thing.  Few more games at the int'l level, and teams will start identifying his weak and strong zones.  But a quality option so far.  And I love the fact that he has come back strong after that nightmare Nidahas game.  Resilience is an under-rated an uncommon trait.  

generally it takes an year for opposition to figure a player out that to young ones or some who has some chinks in their game....shankar is polished player who looks have no issues in his game apart form that 5th gear which is ok in odi coz he can go till 4th

[bowl_out]

Been saying this for a while.. Shankar is a Jadhav type player - a proper batsman who can bowl a bit.. 

He is not a back up for Hardik..  

If we play both Shankar and Jadhav in the XI, and Hardik of course at 7, we can still play 4 bowlers + Hardik + 6th/7th bowler options

[Sgattick10]

He is a good bet for the WC, Eng conditions would suit him. 

[philcric]

3 hours ago, Gollum said:

I don't think T20 is his strongest suit. He should be in WC squad irrespective of IPL performance...T20 success/failure shouldn't have much to do with 50 over cricket.  

 

Yeah, but because he hasn't played enough international cricket, and there's not any ODI games left to play after this series, having a decent/good IPL will surely help him confidence wise, and also make it a little easier for selectors to pick him, even if it is for a different format.

 

Getting game time and doing well in any format is useful for the players, esp. the ones who are finding their feet in the internationals.

 

 

 

[vvvslaxman]

Beginning to think he is technically better than Hardik Pandya as well. Just the bowling has to improve. Until then captain can use him judiciously in the middle overs.

[SrinjayDutta]

15 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

Beginning to think he is technically better than Hardik Pandya as well. Just the bowling has to improve. Until then captain can use him judiciously in the middle overs.

Hardik is not good when he needs to play defensively. His main suits are six hitting,fielding,and bowling bouncers/ good length across lefties. I was quite surprised with his full length 5wkt haul spell in eng though.

[SrinjayDutta]

4.dhoni, 5.shankar,6.yadav,7.hardik. flexible according as requirement. And let's keep faith on the openers. We have a moderate backup in rahul.

[flamy]

Batting-wise, no doubts at all about his quality. And, he gets into the team just based on that.

 

Now, to talk about his bowling, I must say, I was impressed to hear him say he was preparing to bowl from the 40th over onwards (I thought he'd be shytting his pants honestly).

 

And, he just followed Boomer's advice about the ball reversing, and bowled length because the bounce also was not high (from his interview) - that shows great reading of the game

 

I still don't rate his bowling, but he stuck to his strength of straight, wicket to wicket and the reverse swing helped him. Little bit more variations (which he showed in T20s), and he can get us 4 overs (I'll be happy with 3 from him) 

[vvvslaxman]

2 minutes ago, flamy said:

Batting-wise, no doubts at all about his quality. And, he gets into the team just based on that.

 

Now, to talk about his bowling, I must say, I was impressed to hear him say he was preparing to bowl from the 40th over onwards (I thought he'd be shytting his pants honestly).

 

And, he just followed Boomer's advice about the ball reversing, and bowled length because the bounce also was not high (from his interview) - that shows great reading of the game

 

I still don't rate his bowling, but he stuck to his strength of straight, wicket to wicket and the reverse swing helped him. Little bit more variations (which he showed in T20s), and he can get us 4 overs (I'll be happy with 3 from him) 

He has one good advantage. That is height. In terms of pace i won't worry about. Holder, Brathwhite, Grandhomme all bowl at that speed. He just has to do something with the ball. if he can swing the ball he can even be like Sourav Ganguly.