His last First Class game was during the Duleep Trophy 2024 when India B locked horns with India A in Bengaluru.
Mumbai have announced the squad for the next Ranji Trophy fixture against Jammu and Kashmir, including several big names in the lineup. The biggest headline is Rohit Sharma, who will play in the tournament nearly after a decade.
However, another notable name in the squad is Shivam Dube, who hasn’t featured in any games for Mumbai this Ranji Trophy season. His last First Class game was during the Duleep Trophy 2024 when India B locked horns with India A in Bengaluru.
He has 1089 runs at an average of 50.10 in 22 FC games, including nine fifties and four centuries. Further, Dube also has 52 wickets at an average of 21.73 and a strike rate of 48.98, comprising two five-wicket hauls.
Dube’s commitments to the national team didn’t allow him any opportunity to play for Mumbai this season, but he is a proven performer and was bound to come in whenever a chance comes. His all-round value will boost Mumbai’s squad further which already has some settled names with a terrific record in red-ball cricket.
Shivam Dube gets a chance to play red-ball cricket since he wasn’t included in India’s T20I squad for the England series, starting the day after tomorrow. He was part of the T20I setup for a while and was also preferred over Rinku Singh in the T20 World Cup 2024, but that’s not the case anymore.
With Nitish Kumar Reddy’s emergence, India have no option but to leave Dube out since the former offers better bowling value. Even his game against pace is better than Dube, who can be confined easily against hard lengths at good speeds.
Further, India also have Axar Patel, who can do a similar job while contributing with the ball. Axar is among the finest defensive spinners in T20 cricket and gives more variety to the spin department.
The doors are not closed for Dube, who can always press a case by performing exceedingly well in the IPL and other domestic tournaments. For now, he will return to First Class, where he boasts an exceptional record as an all-rounder.
Mumbai squad: Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ayush Mhatre, Shreyas Iyer, Siddhesh Lad, Shivam Dube, Hardik Tamore (wk), Akash Anand (wk), Tanush Kotian, Shams Mulani, Himanshu Singh, Shardul Thakur, Mohit Awasthi, Sylvester Dsouza, Royston Dias, Karsh Kothari
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