India registered a comfortable nine-wicket win against UAE on Wednesday, September 10, to start their Asia Cup campaign on a high. Kuldeep Yadav was the player of the match for his four-wicket haul. The bowlers were on song as they restricted the UAE to 57.
Meanwhile, the credit should also go to Suryakumar Yadav, who handed the ball to Shivam Dube, who claimed three wickets. Notably, Dube has been a part of the India set-up as an all-rounder, but the past India captains have rarely utilised Dube's bowling abilities.
Dube's Bowling Heroics vs UAE Starts A Debate
Even in IPL, CSK didn't hand over the ball to Dube as the southpaw was merely used as an explosive batter in the middle orders. Meanwhile, SKY trusted Dube with the ball, and the right-arm seamer did not disappoint.
After the heroics against the UAE, the pundits are touting Dube as the third seaming option for India after Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya. However, the internet is divided on this view, as another narrative that is going viral is that UAE batters made Dube look good, whereas the 31-year-old is merely an average bowler who looks to take wickets against weaker-ranked teams.
Meanwhile, this article will look at Dube's stats in T20Is and whether he is over-hyped as a bowler or if there is great potential that needs to be tapped.
Shivam Dube: The Bowler For India In T20Is
Let's look at Shivam Dube's T20I stats as a bowler.
Opponent
Matches
Innings
Overs Bowled
Wickets Taken
Best Bowling Figures
Bowling Average
Economy Rate
Afghanistan
5
4
8.0
3
1/4
24.66
9.07
Australia
1
0
0
0
-
-
-
Bangladesh
5
4
7.3
3
3/30
20.00
8.00
England
3
1
2.0
2
2/11
5.50
5.50
Ireland
3
2
3.0
0
-
8.00
New Zealand
5
5
9.0
2
1/16
51.00
11.33
Pakistan
1
0
-
-
-
-
-
South Africa
1
1
-
-
-
-
-
Sri Lanka
3
0
-
-
-
-
9.00
UAE
1
1
2
3
3/4
1.33
2
United States
1
1
3.0
0
-
-
11.00
Zimbabwe
3
3
8.0
3
2/25
21
7.87
Observations
Looking at Shivam Dube's stats, then it is quite obvious that the right-arm seamer has found more success against lower-ranked teams.
Dube has picked up key wickets against Afghanistan, UAE, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh. Out of Dube's 16 T20I scalps, 12 of them have come against these lower ranked teams, which is 75% of his wickets.
Dube's remaining four scalps have been against New Zealand and England, but he has gone for a beating. Against New Zealand, Dube averages 51.
Conclusion
It is true that Shivam Dube has found more success against lower-ranked teams, which has been a pattern in his T20I career. Thus, his success against UAE cannot be celebrated to a point, where the right-arm seamer is considered as a third-seaming option and the management forget about Arshdeep, who sat out in the recently concluded T20I vs Oman.
However, the management should be happy that they have found an option, who can deliver if needed and all other bowlers are struggling on a given day.
Another key observation here is that Dube's full potential as a bowler is yet to be tapped. If we look at the above mentioned table, then it is to be observed that the past captains never entrusted Dube to bowl against mighty teams like Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan.
Bottom Line: For a bowler to be judged whether he can make any impact against big teams, he needs to be given overs. However, in Dube's case, he has played six games against the big four (Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan,) but is yet to bowl a single over.
Thus, it is expected that SKY shows more trust on the CSK star in upcoming games and the star all-rounder repays the faith shown in him.
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Shivam Dube In action vs UAE - (Source : AFP)
.jpg?type=mq "Rishabh Pant's Girlfriend")
