Indian cricketers were abused by Pakistani fan in Manchester, discloses Vijay Shankar

Vijay Shankar revealed how a Pakistani fan abused him and his teammates just a day before the India–Pakistan match in World Cup last year. During a Bharat Army podcast, he recalled the incident, sadly what was his first experience of the age-old rivalry.

Pakistani fan abused Indian cricketers

The all-rounder Vijay Shankar along with his teammates had gone for coffee in Manchester just a day before the clash between India and Pakistan last year. A Pakistani fan then came up and started abusing the Indian players. Shankar recalled the incident, “Few of us players had gone out for coffee one day before the game when a Pakistan fan came up to us and he was literally abusing us. So that was my first experience of an India-Pakistan game.”
He added that the players did not react because the fan was recording everything. “We just had to take it. He was abusing us and recording everything, so we couldn’t react. All we could do was sit and watch what he was doing.”

Shankar recalls his debut match

Shankar who has so far featured in 12 ODIs and nine T20Is for India was suddenly asked to be prepared for his high voltage debut in the India-Pakistan match during the 2019 World Cup. The 29-year-old disclosed, “So one day before the game, they told me, be prepared, you’ll be playing. And I was like, ‘OK.'”

Vijay Shankar was included in the Team India in between of the showpiece event after Shikhar Dhawan had injured himself. Shankar was called up to the UK to replace the injured Dhawan. Then in his debut match against Pakistan Shankar scored a handy 15 runs and became the third bowler in the ODI World Cup history to take a wicket off the first ball he bowled. India’s mammoth 336/5 was heavy for the neighbouring country. Pakistan were wrapped up for just 212/6 in 40 overs.

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