Sympathy messages not helping Shankar to forget Nidahas off-day

While Karthik became the talk of the town for all good reasons, all-rounder Vijay Shankar got lambasted for his knock which almost cost India the match against the Asian rivals. Shankar who scored 19-ball-17 that included four successive dot balls in the 18th over choked in the pressure-cooker final of the Nidahas Trophy.

New Delhi: The last ball six against Bangladesh made 32-year-old Dinesk Karthik the toast of the nation. Social media got flooded with congratulatory messages after Karthik’s blitzkrieg singlehandedly snatched the game away from Bangladesh.

While Karthik became the talk of the town for all good reasons, all-rounder Vijay Shankar got lambasted for his knock which almost cost India the match against the Asian rivals. Shankar who scored 19-ball-17 that included four successive dot balls in the 18th over choked in the pressure-cooker final of the Nidahas Trophy.

Along with the criticism also came in messages of sympathy with Shankar has been dealing with since his off-day. The 27-year-old feels however feels that the messages have been causing more misery to him and not helped him to move on from a "disheartening" off day.

"My parents and close friends didn't say anything as they knew what I was going through. But I get these text messages like 'don't worry about what's being said on social media', when I actually I want to move on. They perhaps think that's the way to show sympathy but it may not work. It was an off-day for me but I am finding it difficult to forget. I know I need to move on. I had a good tournament until that final day," Shankar told PTI in an interview.

The Chennai lad revealed that post the final, captain (Rohit Sharma) and coach (Ravi Shastri) tried to boost his morale after the disappointing performance. Shankar also explained how he lost the opportunity to become the national hero.

"I need to accept that these are things that can happen when you play for India. The same social media would have gone berserk had I won the match all by myself. It happened the opposite and I have to accept all the brickbats. Had I got out for a second or a third ball duck, no one would have bothered about my performance. But then would I have liked that to happen? Certainly not. I would rather accept this situation.You just can't think of safe options always. You have to accept challenges head on," Shankar said.