ICC World Cup 2019: 2 Indians who may have booked their places in the squad after the Australian series

#2 Vijay Shankar

Vijay Shankar - A last-minute option but a better option

Vijay Shankar has certainly enhanced his reputation in the ODI series against Australia. He is lucky to have got continuous opportunities in the absence of Hardik Pandya. But to his credit, he made use of those opportunities to impress upon the selectors and the team management.

In the four matches that he batted in the series against Australia, Shankar scored 46, 32, 26 & 16. His best innings came in the second ODI at Nagpur, when he scored 46 off 41 balls. Again bowling the last over of the innings, Shankar took two wickets in three balls to lead India to a dramatic win.

In the fourth ODI at Mohali, in a high-scoring match, Vijay Shankar was the most economical bowler for India, having conceded a mere 29 runs in his five overs. Moreover, like Jadeja, Shankar showed a lot of passion and aggression on the field at the boundary line. His catch to dismiss Usman Khawaja in the first ODI was an extraordinary effort.

With no fourth seamer and reliable middle-order batsman in sight for Team India, ahead of the World Cup, Shankar could play that dual role to perfection. He hasn’t done any harm to his chances with his performances in the Australian series.

To sum it up, if both Ravindra Jadeja and Vijay Shankar are selected along with the 11 mentioned at the beginning of this article, that would make it 13. Dinesh Karthik could be the 14th man leaving the last place perhaps for Ajinkya Rahane.