Vijay Shankar
Vijay ShankarFILE PIC

To get that 150 after being 46/4 is very special: Vijay Shankar

All-rounder celebrates his 34th birthday with a player of the match performance against Chandigarh as Tamil Nadu win by 209 runs in a Ranji Trophy match
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CHENNAI: As Ajith Ram took the final wicket to hand Tamil Nadu a 209-run win against Chandigarh on Sunday, Vijay Shankar had received a nice birthday gift. The all-rounder, who helped TN recover from 46/4 to 305/5 in the second innings with an unbeaten 150, celebrated his 34th birthday with a player-of-the-match performance in what was a crucial win for Tamil Nadu.

The victory going into the final round of Ranji Trophy, TN play Jharkhand in an away game next, keeps R Sai Kishore's team at the top of Group D. "It is a very very important win for us," an elated Vijay Shankar tells this daily. "This win will give us a lot of relief because you cannot take anything to the last (round), when you have things in your control and playing a home game and we have our quality spinners, it is very important for us to win games like this. I was very happy to get those runs when we were 46/4. From there to get that 150 was actually very special for me," he adds.

Vijay's unbeaten 150 — his second century of this season — is in fact his highest score in first class but the TN all-rounder is not thinking about personal milestones. While it is always good to get the big scores, for someone like Vijay, who has had to bat up and down the order based on the requirement of the team, it has always been about doing well in a given situation.

"Whenever I bat, I generally don't think about all this. If you see the batting orders that I usually bat, it is literally everywhere. Sometimes it is very difficult to think about scoring 150-200 and all that because when you are playing at No 3 or No 4 consistently, most of the games you will get an opportunity to score big. But if you bat at 6, 7 and suddenly you bat 3, 5, 4 even this season, I have batted 3, 4, 5, 6, everywhere. I have always enjoyed such challenges. I am not someone who likes to go crib saying that I will only bat at this order. I have always seen myself as someone who can always stand up for the team.

"That has been my strength as well as weakness. Strength is that I can adapt to such situations. Batting at different batting orders. Weakness is like, getting big hundred is quite difficult. But I generally don't think about all that. Because if I am there, I have to play for the team. I have always been like that. I always feel that has only made me a better cricketer."

From a team point of view, what keeps TN in good stead is the contribution of every player in the XI. Whether it is N Jagadeesan or Andre Siddarth, B Indrajith, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, Mohamed Ali, Vijay Shankar feels that everyone has chipped at some point or other. In the bowling department, Ajith Ram and Sai Kishore have led from the front. "I think Ajith Ram is really underrated. I think, he got close to 80 (84) wickets in 28 innings. Ajit Ram and Sai Kishore together will definitely be a deadly combo for any opponent. If both of them cast a spell, they can create opportunities.

"I will not say the pitch (Salem) was very conducive for spinners. But they were able to extract something out of it. So, that's the beauty of these two. And I should definitely mention someone like M Mohammed, who has been in and out. And for him to come and chip one or two wickets, that is also very crucial. I feel these small contributions are very important for a team to do well in an entire tournament."

While this win gives them a lot of confidence, Tamil Nadu wants to continue the good show in Jamshedpur. "It's not like we did well today. Be happy. Be satisfied. We are always looking forward to getting better as a team. And the best part I feel here is, I think there is a lot of communication that is happening amongst players. It's not like I will be the only one.

"There will be times where people go through difficult times. That is how this game is. But during those tough times, I feel everyone is able to communicate well. Sometimes, you get that feeling that you are not in the right place. But, if we talk well amongst players, that will give a nice feel that we will do it one day. So, when the time comes, they might chip in," Vijay Shankar signed off.

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