Vijay Shankar opens up on haunting ‘3D’ taunts in Social Media

Vijay Shankar. PC: Twitter

India all-rounder Vijay Shankar opened up on his hard times in social media back in 2019. The Tamil Nadu cricketer recently recalled facing all the ‘3D’ comments and trolls across all the social media platforms, referring to it as one of the most haunting times of his career.

Earlier in 2019, Ambati Rayudu was India’s number four batter going forward for the forthcoming ODI World Cup in England. 

But in a dramatic turn of events, the selectors picked Vijay Shankar instead of Rayudu in the World Cup squad, who made his India debut just four months before in January that year. Chief selector MSK Prasad made comments on the selection of Shankar and described him as a ‘3D’ player, which later turned out nothing less than a nightmare for him.

Handling social media was not easy for Shankar

Speaking to Sportstar after the recently concluded Ranji Trophy match against Mumbai, Shankar revealed that the jibes did made things harder for him back then.

"It was very difficult initially. It is very easy to say that you should just ignore those noises, but it is not possible. People who go through it know how difficult it is.

"I have seen things happening to MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and people don’t even spare them. With social media around, you tend to read everything, it goes into your mind. Those days, I must say, made me stronger."

Moreover, Shankar could not make much of an impact for his team in the World Cup and later ruled out of the tournament due to a toe injury. The Tamil Nadu cricketer has not been able to play for India since. He is currently playing for Tamil Nadu in Ranji Trophy, scored his 6th first-class century in the recent round-4 match against Mumbai and will play Maharashtra in the next round from January 10th.

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