In the second game of the ongoing T20 series played between India and the West Indies, India lost in Ranchi by scoring 249 runs. But this loss has laid bare many shortcomings in the Indian team. It seems that Shivam Dubey is getting the most criticism because he has not been performing well whether batting or bowling. Not just that, in the Ranchi match, he has been asked to play ahead of Iyer, which has invited criticism from the head coach Gautam Gambhir. So, the question is why he is getting carried at all?
Now, if we have a look at the statistics of his batting performances in the last five matches, he has been able to score only 37 runs in four innings. He has claimed three wickets in the last five innings. In the first T20I match against West Indies, he didn't get even one over to bowl nor did he get an opportunity to bat. However, in the second ODI when he batted at number four ahead of Iyer, he was bowled out for 7 runs off 10 balls. When it came to his bowling part, he gave 30 runs in two overs without taking any wickets.
The question is, when your fast bowling all-rounder is useless, why is he getting consistent opportunities? Why isn't someone else being used in his place? You have Nitish Kumar Reddy on the bench.
Looking at Shivam Dube's T20 International career, he has scored 1178 runs in 61 innings across 81 matches at an average of 28.5. He has bowled in only 53 innings, taking 40 wickets at an average of 27.15. Notably, his economy rate during this period has been 9.96, which is quite high.
Defending his decision to send Dube ahead of Iyer, Gautam Gambhir said, "We have used him like this for a long time. This isn't the first time this has happened. We had lost momentum. In international cricket, sometimes things go your way, sometimes they don't. We have always been flexible with our batting line-up and will continue to do so. In T20 cricket, only the opening batsmen are fixed."
In the second game of the ongoing T20 series played between India and the West Indies, India lost in Ranchi by scoring 249 runs. But this loss has laid bare many shortcomings in the Indian team. It seems that Shivam Dubey is getting the most criticism because he has not been performing well whether batting or bowling. Not just that, in the Ranchi match, he has been asked to play ahead of Iyer, which has invited criticism from the head coach Gautam Gambhir. So, the question is why he is getting carried at all?
Now, if we have a look at the statistics of his batting performances in the last five matches, he has been able to score only 37 runs in four innings. He has claimed three wickets in the last five innings. In the first T20I match against West Indies, he didn't get even one over to bowl nor did he get an opportunity to bat. However, in the second ODI when he batted at number four ahead of Iyer, he was bowled out for 7 runs off 10 balls. When it came to his bowling part, he gave 30 runs in two overs without taking any wickets.
The question is, when your fast bowling all-rounder is useless, why is he getting consistent opportunities? Why isn't someone else being used in his place? You have Nitish Kumar Reddy on the bench.
Looking at Shivam Dube's T20 International career, he has scored 1178 runs in 61 innings across 81 matches at an average of 28.5. He has bowled in only 53 innings, taking 40 wickets at an average of 27.15. Notably, his economy rate during this period has been 9.96, which is quite high.
Defending his decision to send Dube ahead of Iyer, Gautam Gambhir said, "We have used him like this for a long time. This isn't the first time this has happened. We had lost momentum. In international cricket, sometimes things go your way, sometimes they don't. We have always been flexible with our batting line-up and will continue to do so. In T20 cricket, only the opening batsmen are fixed."