I worked a lot just before the start of the season: Vijay Shankar says Gary Kirsten helped him find rhythm back after surgery

Gujarat Titans moved atop the Indian Premier League after Vijay Shankar’s quickfire half-century helped them beat Kolkata Knight Riders seven wickets on Saturday. Shankar scored an unbeaten 51 off 24 balls, including five sixes, for Gujarat to reach a winning 180-3 with 13 balls to spare.
Dissecting his knock, which came when GT needed 88 off 42 balls, Shankar told teammate David Miller in a post-match video interaction, “That is what we need to do as middle order batsmen, it’s sometimes you need to adapt as quickly. Looking at you and at our own teammates who have extraordinary skill sets to come and finish games or even play a tough situation. For me, I thought I should just learn something and as cricket as we should look to know and grow ourselves.”
Sharing his success mantra and the efforts he’s put in since last year, Shankar said, “Yeah. After the last time, I was out for like six months with surgery. So I had a lot of things to work on not just physically but also a lot of mental state of our cricket because which is very important I feel especially and any international cricket, you know, you need to be mentally really strong to come back. And you know, I was working with Gary (Kirsten) here. He told me a few things where I felt, especially the backswing that I wasn’t getting. I worked a lot just before the start of the season and I feel really happy that it’s coming.”

From making an impactful comeback to acing the chase in presence of family 🤗
Presenting chase special from Kolkata ft. @vijayshankar260 & @DavidMillerSA12 👌🏻👌🏻 – @28anand
Full Interview 🎥🔽 #TATAIPL | #KKRvGT https://t.co/8v33Xxs1C1 pic.twitter.com/z9z9f2RfV5
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 30, 2023
Gujarat pacers Mohammed Shami and Joshua Little shared five wickets to restrict Kolkata to 179-7. Play was delayed nearly 45 minutes because of a wet outfield but no overs were lost.

In reply, impact player Shubman Gill gave Gujarat a solid start combining for 41 runs with Wriddhiman Saha (10) and 50 runs with skipper Hardik Pandya (26). Gill put on a timing masterclass as he struck eight boundaries in his 35-ball, 49-run knock. Gujarat was down to 93-3 in the 12th over when Gill fell to Sunil Narine but they never looked in trouble after that. Shankar’s and David Miller’s unbeaten 87-run partnership off 39 balls led them to a dominant victory. Miller hit two fours and two sixes, and Shankar blitzed his way to a half-century, finishing the game with a six.
GT are once again on top of IPL points table with six wins from eight games after beating KKR seven wickets on the day.
“Hardik is really aggressive. He wants a find a way to come out good in difficult situations. He always wants to do it for the team. He takes the new ball. He has delivered it when we needed the wicket of Rohit Sharma against Mumbai Indians,” Vijay cited examples of his skipper’s game-changing efforts.
“He (Hardik) got a 66 on a difficult wicket against LSG. He is taking up a lot responsibility. That’s the best thing to do. When you are captain you have to show the team that this is how it is done. That is why all the other players are really trusting him and doing whatever the team asks us to do.” GT have been successful in sealing close games and Vijay credited it to their tough training regime.
“The amount of practice we do as a team is unbelievable, every individual in our team practices so hard. We do it harsh and harsh.