Asia Cup 2025: Morne Morkel Backs Shivam Dube as India Weighs Playing XI Options
Shivam Dube in Asia Cup 2025: Will medium pace all-rounder Shivam Dube get a place in India's playing eleven in the Asia Cup or will he be seen sitting on the bench. Indian team's assistant coach Morne Morkel has revealed what the plan is for him.
The Asia Cup is starting from today, i.e., 9 September. The Indian team will start its campaign in this tournament against the UAE on 10 September. But, before it, there is much discussion about India's playing 11 on the turning wicket of the UAE. Being the best T20 team in the world, the Indian team still has question marks about some places. The biggest dilemma is who to choose from the best bowling attack, or whether to increase the batting order to number eight to give some relief to the team. One of the players involved in this debate is Shivam Dubey, who can be included in the playing XI if Suryakumar Yadav chooses batting depth.
If India includes Shivam Dubey in the team instead of a specialist bowler, then he will have a batting order up to number eight, which will give him extra space to play according to his choice. In such a situation, Dubey's role in the team will increase, as he will play as the sixth bowler. For this, India's bowling coach is working behind the scenes with this medium pacer and wants him to develop as a four-over bowler in T20.
Speaking to reporters at the ICC Academy, Morne Morkel said that it is always important for me to use Shivam as a player who can bowl four overs. I always motivate all-rounders to work hard on both skills. Sometimes players get a little naughty during practice and focus on one thing. But, here we do not want to leave any stone unturned. The conditions on the match day might favour him more than anyone else and he has to be ready to perform well.
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As we have often seen in previous T20 Internationals, this Indian team likes to strengthen the batting further and include a number of versatile players in the starting XI. Hence, Morkel has worked a lot on Dube's bowling. Dube can also be of help when the conditions are slow in Dubai. However, this could also mean that Kuldeep Yadav could be benched.
Indian squad for Asia Cup 2025: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Verma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson, Harshit Rana and Rinku Singh.
