Vijay Shankar wants to stay clear of competition, comparisons

Colombo, March 9: Vijay Shankar picked up man of the match award in the Nidahas Trophy T20I match against Bangladesh on Thursday (March 8) but he stayed clear of comparisons and competition with Hardik Pandya for a place in the side.

"For me, what is more important is what I do every day. Even in the nets, it is important for me to get better and better every day," said Vijay.

INDIA BRUSH ASIDE BANGLADESH

"Most cricketers don't like comparing ourselves with other cricketers but it is very important for us to show what we have and enjoy ourselves here so that we can give our best rather than putting ourselves under pressure," said Vijay.

"They (the team management) gave us all the freedom and they asked us to just express ourselves which is very important at this stage," said Vijay about the dealing with the pressure of playing international cricket.

"That is one thing that is very important for all the cricketers because the pressure is going to be there every time and if we enjoy the pressure, I think we can do really well there," he said.

The 27-year-old Vijay said he wanted to take every game with positive intent.

"I feel this is just the start for me. As cricketers, the constant thing is just keep improving and learning so I'm just looking forward to the coming games," he said.

"I feel the biggest strength that I have is being calm and taking every game equally, each and every game seriously and play with good intent," he said.

India had conceded 15 extras in the match against Bangladesh but Vijay was not unduly worried about it.

"I think most of the extras were very marginal, we were trying to, like when we tried a wide yorker, it was just over the line and obviously the line belongs to the umpire," he said.

"As bowlers, we can take that one extra yard to try ourselves, most of the time the batsmen don't leave, they'll try and go after the ball and most of the time it hits the bat.

"I think we should stick to whatever we've been doing all this while and it's been really successful in the last two games," he said.