Atreyo Mukhopadhyay
A successful entrepreneur, he was also a keen cricketer and played at the club level. Later, he also got into cricket administration at the district level. His two sons were also good players, especially the younger one. But in Chennai where they lived, practice facilities were not that good in those days. So Shankar made a cricket pitch on the terrace of their house in the Madipakkam area of the city.
That younger son is Vijay Shankar. What he did with the bat in the Gujarat Titans-Kolkata Knight Riders match on Sunday was consigned to irrelevance because of the Rinku Singh miracle. But, make no mistake, Vijay is back. After recovering from injuries, and facing a lot of criticism which was unfair, he now knows what his role is. And he is perfectly capable of delivering.
Let’s go back to that pitch on the terrace. It’s an artificial turf with nets. There are lights so that it can be used post-sundown. There is a bowling machine. The walls are padded so that there is minimal noise of ball hitting concrete, and the neighbours are not disturbed. A few of Vijay’s Tamil Nadu teammates also used to go and train there, including the Baba twins, Aparajith and Indrajith. And you know what, Shankar used to play the role of throw-down specialist at times.
Coming back to Vijay. Being labelled as the all-rounder the Indian team was desperately looking for worked against him. He is a batter who can chip in with a few overs. He was known as that. Then, in the 2014-15 Ranji Trophy season, Tamil Nadu started playing with four spinners. This meant a specialist batter had to bowl a few overs with the new ball. That’s what he did.
Because he took a few wickets, there was an attempt to portray Vijay as an all-rounder. This was encouraged by the India A set-up and also the Indian team management. Primarily a batter, Vijay was forced to become an all-rounder. That confused him. He was a young boy at that time. He could not say that this is not what he is. And being an all-rounder all of a sudden led to his inclusion in the Indian team.
As is well documented, this role adjustment led to complications. He could not concentrate fully on his natural job, which was that of a batter. Forced into becoming a bowler, he lost track a bit. Strangely, the Indian team management of that time endorsed this. So a batter had to become a so-called all-rounder and perform duties alien to him. That affected his progress.
What we see now is a different story. The Gujarat franchise in the IPL has made it clear that Vijay is a batter first. If need be, he can be told to bowl a few overs, but his job is to score runs. He has started doing that, and does it pretty well. The last two overs of their innings from the game to be remembered for Rinku were exceptional. Vijay mastered everything thrown at him. The six over wide long-off in the last ball of the penultimate over was quite something, not to mention the three consecutive sixes in the final over.
Let’s come back to Shankar, the father who helped his son become an impact player. He goes to local matches in Chennai even when his son is not playing. He stays away from the humdrum, but watches with absolute passion what is in front of him. This passion is the key word. They are a family so deeply into cricket. Vijay’s elder brother, Ajay, works in an IT company and then devotes his spare time to cricket. Vijay is a product of this familial system, which has a pitch on the terrace.
After the whims and fancies of others pushed him down to the basement where cricket throws its discards, Vijay is on the rise again. From the terrace, the sky is the only limit.