Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma clarified why the Chennai Super Kings star Shivam Dube was selected for the T20 World Cup 2024.
Right after the announcement of the India squad for the T20 World Cup 2024, many raised eyebrows regarding the inclusion of Shivam Dube – who has lesser exposure to international matches.
Being a bowling allrounder, Shivam Dube played 21 T20Is and scored 276 runs at a strike rate of 14.26 which includes 3 fifties. With the ball, Dube bagged just 8 wickets in 19 innings.
Dube made his T20I debut for India on November 3, 2019, in a match against Bangladesh at Arun Jaitley Stadium. Though he has not executed an impressive performance in the international games, his recent performance in the ongoing IPL bagged him an opportunity to represent India in a global event.
Shortly called “Sixer Dube” scored 350 runs for Chennai Super Kings in the ongoing IPL 2024 which includes 26 sixes in 10 matches. Dube maintains a strike rate of 171.57 and scored 3 half-centuries this season so far.
While questioned regarding the base of Shivam Dube’s selection for the ICC event, Rohit made a cheeky reply.
“We picked Shivam Dube based on his performances in IPL and a few games he played before in the national team. But, there’s no guarantee what our playing XI will be. It will be based on practice and the opposition”, said Rohit Sharma.
“We wanted a batsman at the middle order who can hit big shots fearlessly and without worrying, that’s why we picked the Shivam Dube. Shivam Dube will bowl in the T20 World Cup and Hardik Pandya as well. They are seasonal cricketers and they are important for the team”, he added.
Speaking of the tournament, as per the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 schedule, India will play their first match of the tournament against Ireland on June 5 in Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, New York.
India Squad for T20 World Cup 2024
Rohit Sharma(c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant(wk), Sanju Samson(wk), Hardik Pandya(vc), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
Travelling Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed, Avesh Khan
