Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan showered praise on Shivam Dube for playing a key role in India’s 2-1 T20I series win against Australia. Dube has been able to step up as a bowler in the absence of injured Hardik Pandya and Pathan reckons it is a huge factor for the Indian team.
Dube scalped three wickets in five matches of the series against Australia. The medium had returned with impressive figures of 2-20 in the two overs he bowled in the fourth T20I as he had accounted for Tim David and Australian skipper Mitchell Marsh.
Irfan Pathan said on his YouTube Channel, “We have seen some changes but there is a story in those. The strength of this team is the all-rounders. I’m focussing on all-rounders because Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel have been the biggest positives, especially Sundar as he’s not been a regular part of the T20I side. He got an opportunity and played a 49-run knock in Hobart. When he received an opportunity to bowl, he picked up three wickets. Shivam Dube has raised his stocks in bowling and it’s a huge factor for the Indian team, given Hardik Pandya’s injury that we saw in Asia Cup.”
Pathan highlighted that Dube can contribute to the team’s success if Hardik Pandya is not available due to any injury concerns.
“The way Indian team is planning, it’s rational because they don’t want if Pandya becomes injured ahead of any big matches, they don’t have options of all-rounders. Dube is now a seam-bowling all-rounder option. Nitish Kumar Reddy is yet another option. Hardik Pandya is going to be the No.1 choice but what if he is injured? In that case, Dube has given the Indian team a massive confidence-booster,” he said.
The former swing bowler recalled how Axar Patel played a crucial knock of 47 runs in the T20 World Cup final against South Africa and stitched an imperative alliance of 72 runs off 54 balls with Virat Kohli.
“If we talk of Axar Patel, his innings in the World Cup final and the brisk partnership with Virat Kohli was crucial. Kohli was playing cautiously and he wanted to play until the end; hence, he wanted someone to play a brisk knock. Hence, we won that World Cup. He regularly plays well. If we look at this series, he played an excellent knock in the game at Gold Coast, the 21-run knock was crucial and it created a big difference between the two teams.”
“He plays well in the middle order and lower middle-order, possessing the ability to hit boundaries. He also shown plenty of improvement in his bowling. So, the Indian team revolving around these three all-rounders is going according to the plan, which is why they’ve been experimenting a lot more. It is fair because you have plenty of options,” Pathan concluded.
Patel was awarded Player of the Match in the fourth game against Australia after he had scored a cameo of 11-ball 21 and returned with impressive figures of 2-20 in his quota of four overs.
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