Vijay Shankar recalls unpleasant episode with Pakistani fan ahead of 2019 World Cup clash

With sky-high stakes in an India-Pakistan cricket match, the rivalry bears the pressure to win for each team, affecting youngsters and seniors equally every time the neighbouring countries encounter each other on the pitch. India's young all-rounder Vijay Shankar recently re-visited his first-ever clash against the Men in Green in the 2019 ICC World Cup and recalled a shocking incident that happened just before the match. Shankar revealed that a day before the match in Manchester, the team came across a Pakistani fan who 'hurled abuses' at the Men in Blue. 

Speaking at the Bharat Army Podcast, Shankar stated that few of Team India players had gone out to have coffee, a day before the match. During their outing, the cricketers came across a Pakistani fan who made their outing unpleasant. “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 said. 

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“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,” he added. 

The incident, maybe, triggered Shankar as the all-rounder in his very first delivery at the World Cup trapped opener Imam-ul-Haq in front and picked up his first wicket. He also went on to dismiss Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed as well. 

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Batting first, Indian openers got off to a fiery start with Rohit Sharma who had a tremendous campaign notching up another century in the match. KL Rahul too got a half-century and built a decent partnership with skipper Virat Kohli who scored 77. The Men in Blue posted a mammoth total of 336 runs on the board and Pakistan failed to even get close as they never got going. The Indians secured a comfortable 89-run win in a rain-affected match. 

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Waqar Younis points out what went wrong for Pak

Former Pakistan skipper Waqar Younis opined that Sarfaraz Khan and his men had 'no answers' in the game. The former speedster also stated that right from the toss Pakistan had got it 'totally wrong.' He also went on to remark that it was a 'silly mistake' to win the toss and opt to field.

Speaking to an online sports portal Global Fans, the former Pakistan captain opined that the Men in Green were hoping that the pitch will do a lot more and they will get early wickets which will put India under pressure. However, he added that Indian had very 'seasoned openers' and they did not allow Pakistan bowlers to get over them and since the pitch was not offering help, it was difficult to stop the Indians once they got going. He added that the Indian batsmen had piled up so many runs to which Pakistan had 'no answers' at all. 

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