The fast-bowling allrounder offers cover for three roles if India decide to call him up into the main squad
Riyan Parag is still only 23, but he has already built a strong case for an India call-up in the near future. A naturally aggressive batter with a reputation for clearing the ropes effortlessly, Parag combines power with finesse, using his strong wrists to great effect. Beyond his batting, he is a genuine all-rounder capable of delivering a full quota of overs, as reflected in his impressive List A bowling record—50 wickets in 45 innings, including three four-wicket hauls.
Despite his age, he has already played seven senior domestic seasons and featured in six IPL editions, amassing over 1,000 runs. With such an extensive resume at a young age, it may only be a matter of time before he becomes a regular in the Indian team, especially for major ICC tournaments.
But the bright prospect is not in focus for the Champions Trophy 2025, Shivam Dube is. The Mumbai allrounder has been named a non-traveling substitute along with Mohammed Siraj and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was pipped by spinner Varun Chakravarthy for a spot in the final squad.
Dube made his senior domestic debut for Mumbai at the age 23, a late arrival going by usual journey for young players. But he came with a skill that was rather becoming a lost art among modern Indian batters – hitting spinners for sixes.
Dube was famous in Mumbai maidans for it but it took until 2022, almost three years after his international debut for the world to notice. He was a revelation for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) with his ability to take on the spin wizards and he did that with a strike rate of 156, striking 16 sixes and 22 boundaries that season.
It was only after doing that consistently for two more seasons that Dube got a spot in the 2024 T20 World Cup where he was quiet for the majority of the tournament before smacking 27 off 16 balls in the final against South Africa that proved to be gold dust in India winning the trophy.
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This involvement in the shortest format got him a call-up for the Sri Lanka series in 2024, five long years after playing his only ODI. He batted lower down the order and was able to manage just 34 runs in three matches. There isn’t much to draw from these performances as India as a team looked lethargic and out of ideas under new coach Gautam Gambhir.
But going into the Champions Trophy In the 50-overs game, India are looking settled with their combinations with plans for Dube if a need arises to play him in the tournament.
India still have five right handers in the top order in the form of Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul. It is highly unlikely that Rishabh Pant will get game time for India to have a left-hander in the top five. For now, Dube is a like-for-like replacement for Axar Patel on the basis of being a left-handed batter. Also Dube can accelerate at a quicker rate than Axar. He has a career strike rate of 109 in the 50-over format and has scored 1,089 runs from 44 List A innings.
Dube a proper like-for-like replacement for Hardik Pandya as a fast-bowling allrounder. If he replaces Pandya in the tournament and the rest of the line-up stays the same, India will have more diversity in their middle order as they can send in Axar at No.5 and Dube after KL Rahul at No.7.
Ravindra Jadeja is also another player Dube can replace as he is a left-handed batter while also batting at No.6. However, the absence of Jadeja will also require India to play an extra spinner as flat tracks are the norm in Dubai. This also requires sacrificing the spot of a proper batter or a pacer to add in a spinner. Dube, for now is a good back up for three different roles, which is a good decision made by Ajit Agarkar and his fellow selectors.
It was evident from his performance in the T20 World Cup final and in the IPL for CSK that Dube has that big match temperament which is not format specific.
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