Vijay Shankar and Rishabh Pant: The contrasting duo whose quirks could light up India's tournament

Pant is a rockstar – the kind of player for whom World Cups are built. He will frustrate and swashbuckle in equal measure, he will attempt the unattemptable, he will attain the unattainable

As Vijay Shankar took his place in front of the world’s media ahead of India’s game against Afghanistan, he was – paradoxically, one might suggest – somewhat inconspicuous by his own presence.

He was there – the proof was indisputable; he was seen, he was heard, he could – one assumes – have been touched. But while he was sat jovially before the cricketing universe, it is hard to imagine that Shankar was the primary focus of those sat before him. And it equally tough to believe that Shankar will have minded.

There was a discussion about his toes – he had been hit in practice on Wednesday by a Jasprit Bumrah yorker, you see. But that was about as insightful as it got.

To get pinned on the foot by a Bumrah special is less of an injury, though more of a rite of passage in this Indian side; to be speared by one of the javelins hurled down from Bumrah’s spiky coil is a curious privilege. If nothing else, it is a hard and sharp reminder that you have made it, that you are stood just 22 yards from the world’s most talented seam bowler.

Rarely can one man have looked so innocuous – as Bumrah does – and possessed a switch of such contrarian consequence. He is a freak of the very best kind; his is an action that should not work. His arms and legs fling over themselves as he fires them up for takeoff.

^{Shankar dismissed Imam-ul-Haq with the first ball he bowled against Pakistan}

If you knew no better, you would stare in confusion at a man whose limbs appear incompatible with one another, jerking and bouncing in equal measure. You feel as though it is your duty as a human to get closer and mediate should a scuffle break out between these waving, tangling arms. It is a beautiful unorthodoxy.

His leap at the crease could scarcely bear less resemblance to the pantheon of great fast bowlers; Glenn McGrath’s offered a dictionary definition, Brett Lee too. Bumrah is, to the Australian pair, both antonym and synonym: opposite in style, but similar as an inducer of fear, a perpetual wounder of digits and ribs.

Anyway, to return to Shankar; a most curious purveyor of bits and pieces. He is an unusual throwback in a team of new-age athletes. He was excellent against Pakistan on Sunday – in a sense, the perfect man for a situation as highly-charged as a battle against the arch-enemy.

There is no bigger game in sport, no greater rivalry, no event that means more to these two sets of fans. And yet, there was Shankar, sneaking up to the crease to bowl at Imam-ul-Haq. No wonder he was struck on the pad by the very first delivery he faced from the seamer.

Quite simply, Shankar scuttles about his work in such silence that Imam could have been forgiven – on this raucous occasion of high-profile celebrities – to have failed to notice this relative novice trotting up towards him.

This is not to do a disservice to an all-rounder picked on nothing if not the merits of his early efforts in India colours. However, in a star-studded lineup, he stands out – not as a shining light, but as a shadow. It is a role that carries an almost unique threat. The quality of his overs will be targeted by batsmen, the value of his wicket will be underappreciated by bowlers.

^{Pant struck a maiden Test century against England in 2018}

And as Pant pitches up – likely in place of Kedar Jadhav, who has chosen an awfully unfortunate time to lose all sense of batting rhythm, Shankar’s perceived threat level will seep ever lower.

Pant is a rockstar – the kind of player for whom World Cups are built. If this tournament insists on its capacity to put the world’s greats under one wholly metaphorical roof, then this is a party to which Pant required an invitation. He will frustrate and swashbuckle in equal measure, he will attempt the unattemptable, he will attain the unattainable.

In a competition shorn of breakout stars by virtue of the ICC’s refusal to welcome a raft of thrilling, developing nations, Pant – via the fractured thumb of Shikhar Dhawan – has his ticket to this most exclusive of clubs. Watch him light the place up.

Vijay Shankar, meanwhile, will just do what he does – quietly tiptoeing beneath the radar in a team that lives in a permanent raft of noise.

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