The all-rounder walked in at No.3 for just the third time in his T20I career.
When Shivam Dube walked out to bat at No.3 after the score 77/1 in 6.3 overs vs Bangladesh, he was carrying a lot of expectations to keep the tempo going. Though the intent by Team India was understandable, there were a few eyebrows raised in the ongoing Asia Cup 2025 game.
Bangladesh won the toss and chose to bowl first against the Men in Blue. Skipper Litton Das was ruled out of the game with a side strain. As a result, Jaker Ali led the side. The Tigers came into the game with four changes to their playing XI. On the other hand, the Indians are using their same winning combination.
Having said that, the Indians shuffled their batting order in the second match of the Super Four. After Dube walked in at one down, Sanju Samson did not come out to bat for five more wickets. Earlier, assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate had spoken in the press conference about No.5 being the right position for Samson. But he was held back in this game. Whether India intends to use him as a finisher in the long term would be an interesting question.
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Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill provided India with a brisk start, as they are known to do on most occasions. India scored 72 runs in the power play. After Gill returned, Shivam Dube scored just two runs off three deliveries. He had to walk back to the pavilion after being dismissed by Rishad Hossain. But there was some thought process behind sending him out at No.3. And that is why it was a good ploy by the Men in Blue.
The other options that India had, apart from Dube, were Tilak Varma, Sanju Samson, and Suryakumar Yadav. The skipper hasn’t been in great form in the tournament, so it would not have been a wise decision for him to come out. Moreover, Samson and Tilak are both good hitters against fast bowling and can struggle a bit against the slower ones. However, Dube’s exploits against spin-bowling are known.
Another factor that the management would have considered is the counter-strategy from Bangladesh after the power play. The general idea after the power play from any team is to slow down the scoreboard by maximising the spinners. Dube would have been in a great position to take the Bangladeshi spinners to the cleaners.
On the other hand, if Jaker had read the idea behind India’s decision and held his main spinners back for the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, he would have been forced to bring his part-timers on. He did that too, bringing in Saif Hassan for two overs. He bowled beautifully to concede just seven runs in his two overs.
As for Bangladesh, their pacers are outperforming the spinners in the tournament so far. The Bangladeshi speedsters have managed to scalp 18 wickets in the tournament so far, with Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed leading the charts, picking eight and give wickets respectively. In contrast, the spinners have picked just 12 wickets in the tournament. And 50% of those wickets have come from Rishad. It is not wonder that Dube lost his wicket to the leg-spinner’s brilliance. He could have played Rishad out, and attacked the others, as an option. But with the start that India had got off to, it was important to keep the momentum intact.
Till a few months ago, Dube was smashing spinners all around the park in the Indian Premier League (IPL). That was actually one of the reasons why MS Dhoni promoted him up the order in many matches. The way Dube used to accelerate in the middle-overs is exactly the kind of stuff teams would want in their ranks. But somehow, his stats against quality-spin have dropped in the recent past. It wouldn’t be an evidence of India’s ploy not being efficient enough. But the left-hander surely needs to spend some more time in the middle.
The way in which he was dismissed in the game against Bangladesh was very typical of a hard-hitter. More than the technique, it is the power that Dube uses behind his shot making. However, against the Bangladeshi leg-spinner on Wednesday, he was unable to read the googly from his hands. Dube went for the big hit and mis-hit the ball high into the night sky. The 32-year-old Indian will have to make it a habit to read the hands of a bowler before attempting to hit the ball out of the park.
As far as the stats are concerned, Shivam Dube averages 39 against pace bowling, as compared to a poor 21.22 against spin currently. To add to that, his strike-rate against pace is 139.28, where as it comes down to a 134.5 against spinners. Though these stats paint a clear picture against India’s call to promote him at three, it is also important to understand that it was a chance which the Blues took. One factor might have been that they wanted Bangladesh to go towards their part-timers, which they did.
As another option, the Indian management could have looked at Sanju Samson at No.3. The wicketkeeper-batter from Kerala possesses a strike-rate of 154.20 against spinners, which is 10 runs more than his strike-rate against pace. To add to that, Samson also averages more against spin than pace in the T20I format. The Men in Blue will have to find ways of optimising Samson before it gets too late. It is not just about this tournament, but also about the T20 World Cup early next year.
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