Batters with bowling skills have long been desired by India in T20Is and Shivam Dube is finally fulfilling this desire.
While Hardik Pandya remains the only man in India capable of doing Hardik Pandya things. Yet, the new generation of batsmen with bowling abilities is developing. India’s top eight in the fifth Twenty20 International against Zimbabwe in Harare contained four players who could play both positions.
Shivam Dube was named Player-of-the-Match, while Washington Sundar received Player-of-the-Series honors. India’s team management may have been even happier with Abhishek Sharma’s performance: 3-0-20-1. With the series already won with Abhishek extracting turn, bounce, and grip, India could afford to give him a longer time than Washington or Tushar Deshpande. In the fourth T20I, he may have claimed another wicket if Ruturaj Gaikwad hadn’t dropped a reasonably simple catch in the infield.
Shivam Dube Shines in Zimbabwe T20 Series
Shivam Dube, who bowled only one over in the IPL 2024. And the subsequent T20 World Cups in the United States and the Caribbean ended up bowling eight overs across three T20Is in Zimbabwe. He completed his full allotment of overs on Sunday. Dube took the wickets of Dion Myers and Johnathan Campbell to end Zimbabwe’s chase of 168. He continued to dig the ball into a used Harare surface, taking pace off to deny batsmen free access to the boundaries.
This came after he had scored 26 off 12 balls to help India reach 167. Shivam Dube is also learning on the job as a T20 bowler, having added a back-of-the-hand slower variation to his basic off-cutter. Washington is primarily a bowler in white-ball cricket.
But he has been working behind the scenes to add more power to his batting. He even worked with former Gujarat batter Apurva Desai, who had previously worked with Dinesh Karthik. “It’s always a wonderful thing for me as an allrounder to contribute in all categories, bat and ball,” Dube said after the game.
.Before his maiden international series, Abhishek bowled in both the powerplay and middle overs at the IPL 2024. Abhishek took the wickets of Sanju Samson and Shimron Hetmyer in the second qualifier against Rajasthan Royals in Chennai.
Abhishek’s Place in India’s T20I Squad
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Besides Shivam Dube, Abhishek then improved his bowling skills In the Sher-e-Punjab T20 League. He ended in the top 10 for wickets taken. “I’d want to thank the coaches and Shubman in particular for believing in me after the first two matches, even though I didn’t bowl much and didn’t bowl well.
“Abhishek spoke after India won the series 4-1. “So I thought that giving me another shot with the ball… I am always grateful for that. I’ve been working extremely hard to improve my bowling. I understood that if I wanted to get my [India] cap, I needed to bowl for my team, so I focused on that.”
Once India’s veterans return to the T20I team, Abhishek may not be able to make the XI, but it’s always encouraging to see batters working hard on their secondary skills. It’s nice to watch India choose and develop such versatile players in T20 cricket. Not long ago, India possessed five batters (none of whom could bowl), an allrounder, a wicketkeeper, and four specialist bowlers.
When Hardik was absent, they were forced to rely on their resources. They turned a corner in winning the T20 World Cup, selecting a squad with three allrounders in Hardik, Jadeja, and Axar Patel, with the exception of Shivam Dube, who was rarely called upon with the ball.
Despite the absence of Hardik, Axar, and Nitish Kumar Reddy, the IPL’s newest all-round hero, India performed admirably in Zimbabwe, revealing a promising future.
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