Vijay Shankar

The arrival

Vijay Shankar arrived through the auction: Chennai Super Kings paid ₹10 lakh, the base price.

That first season brought 1 match. The best was still to come.

The peak

The high point with the bat was 2023, for Gujarat Titans: 301 runs at an average of 37.6, striking at 160.1 in a season when the league as a whole struck at 141.9, with 3 fifties, and a highest score of 63 not out.

With the ball, the best season was 2020, for Sunrisers Hyderabad: 4 wickets at 6.07 runs an over, while the league's bowlers went for 8.14, with best figures of 1 for 11.

Franchise by franchise

2014, Chennai Super Kings. Bought at the 2014 auction for ₹10 lakh. 1 match.

2017, Sunrisers Hyderabad. Arrived outside the auction. 4 matches and 101 runs.

2018, Delhi Daredevils. Bought at the 2018 auction for ₹3.20 cr. 13 matches, 212 runs and 1 wicket.

2019 to 2021, Sunrisers Hyderabad, second time round. Back outside the auction. 29 matches, 399 runs and 8 wickets.

2022 to 2024, Gujarat Titans. Bought at the 2022 auction for ₹1.40 cr. 25 matches and 403 runs; champions in 2022.

2025, Chennai Super Kings, second time round. Bought at the 2025 auction for ₹1.20 cr. 6 matches and 118 runs.

6 spells with four franchises in all. The longest was with Sunrisers Hyderabad, 2019 to 2021. 2015 and 2016 are missing from the record: seasons without an IPL appearance.

Bat, ball and method

Across the career, Vijay Shankar struck at 129.8. The league around those same seasons, weighted by how much batting each one involved, struck at 138.6, so Vijay Shankar scored about 9 runs per hundred balls slower than the typical batter of the time, a trade usually made for longer innings. 52% of the runs came in fours and sixes: 88 fours and 48 sixes.

The ball-by-ball record adds the detail. 32% of the balls Vijay Shankar faced were dot balls, a lower share than 85% of the 140 batters who have faced 500 balls or more in the IPL. A six came every 19.8 balls, and a four every 10.8.

With the ball, 9 wickets in 243 deliveries, at 8.49 runs an over against a league rate of 8.14 for the same seasons: 0.36 an over more expensive than the typical bowler of the time.

The fielding record: 35 catches and 4 run-outs.

At the auction

Vijay Shankar went under the hammer six times, bought five times and left unsold once. The highest price was ₹3.20 cr, paid by Delhi Daredevils in 2018, more than 8 times the base price. The price climbed with the reputation: ₹10 lakh in 2014, ₹1.20 cr by 2025. Being bought did not always mean playing: no match followed for Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2016.

Seasons without an auction entry were played under a retention, a trade or a signing made outside the auction.

The legacy

Vijay Shankar made 78 IPL appearances, the last for Chennai Super Kings in 2025.