Former cricketer Aakash Chopra has questioned India head coach Gautam Gambhir and Selection committee chief Ajit Agarkar on Shivam Dube’s absence in the T20I squad for England’s tour of India 2025.
Dube’s last T20I appearance was during India’s tour of Sri Lanka in 2025. He was part of the squad for the Bangladesh T20I series but didn’t play 11. However, due to injury, he was dropped from the squad for the four-match T20I series against South Africa.
Recently, Aakash Chopra opened up on Dube’s absence from T20Is despite being part of India’s T20 World Cup 2024.
“What happened to Shivam Dube? I wanted to talk about Ruturaj (Gaikwad) as well but he is not able to make his place. Rajat Patidar is also there. Obviously, there is a lot of batting. However, now I am going to focus a little bit on Shivam Dube. He was a member of the T20 World Cup-winning team,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
Chopr highlighted the contribution in the final of the tournament where the southpaw cored a quickfire 27 runs off 16 balls, smashing three fours and a six.
“When you win, everyone should get the credit. He even played decently in the final. Before that, there were definitely some questions that he wasn’t fielding or batting well. However, then he played well and became the T20 World Cup champion,” Chopra added.
Dube had a good season during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024-25 scoring 151 runs in five innings at an average of 75.50 with a strike rate of 179.76 with a highest scored of 71* off 37 deliveries against Services.
Dube has scored 448 runs from 24 innings at an average of 29.86 with three fifties and also scalped 11 wickets in 23 innings.
Chopra also further elaborated on shifting dynamics within BCCI’s selection strategy favouring Nitish Reddy and Hardik Pandya while Dube’s commendable contributions has been unrecognised.
“After facing injuries and limited chances, he has now vanished from the selection radar. Additionally, no one is discussing his plight. It’s concerning that Riyan Parag’s injury garners attention, yet Dube’s silence is unanswered. He has suddenly dropped out of the conversation entirely,” Chopra concluded.
The first match of the T20I series will begin on January 22 at Eden Gardens before the three match ODI series against the same opponent.
