All-rounder Vijay Shankar says he doesn’t want to put himself under pressure by drawing comparisons with India regular Hardik Pandya and would rather focus on improving his own skills.
He claimed two crucial wickets to bag the match-of-the-match award as India defeated Bangladesh by six wickets in the second T20 international in the tri-series on Thursday night.
“For me, what is more important is to get better and better everyday. I think most cricketers don’t like comparisons but it is important for us to show what we have and give our best instead of putting ourselves under pressure,” he said.
Not affected
Vijay Shankar’s maiden international wicket was delayed after Suresh Raina dropped a catch at mid off and Washington Sundar also missed an attempt in the bowler’s first over.
Asked if those dropped catches affected him, Vijay Shankar said: “It didn’t affect me much because dropping catches is part of the game. Obviously I would have loved to get my first wicket at that time but as cricketers we know it is not easy to field under lights with the white ball. I didn’t give much importance to that, I was just focusing on bowling the next ball,” he said.
Vijay Shankar said his hard work has finally been rewarded. “It feels great. I think the intensity with which I have been working has paid off and I feel it is just a start for me. I am really looking forward to the coming weeks,” he said.
“I think the inner strength that I have helps me stay calm. Obviously, when you are playing for India, it is special but I try to play each and every game seriously and my only thinking is to improve everyday, so it has been good for me.”
Rohit’s pat for team
India skipper Rohit Sharma lauded the team for its clinical show. “It was a great performance. Something that was expected from us. Till the last ball of the game was bowled, it was clinical,” he said.
“We looked into what went wrong against Sri Lanka and we thought hitting back of a length was a good option. We wanted them to go after the long boundaries. I thought the bowlers executed their plans really well. Came out and did what was asked. We kept it simple.”
Rohit said India has to raise its fielding performance after being sloppy during the T20 match. “We need to improve out catching. We want to get better as a fielding side every game we play. Hopefully we won’t make the same mistakes again.”
His Bangladesh counterpart Mahmudullah blamed his batmen for not putting enough runs on board. “It’s obvious that we didn’t bat well. We should’ve scored a lot more runs, probably 30 more runs,” he said.
Saturday’s match: Sri Lanka v Bangladesh.