Mumbai all-rounder Shivam Dube on Sunday showed how valuable an asset he could be to the Indian T20I side as he scored a breathtaking half-century after being promoted to No.3 in the second T20I of the ongoing series against West Indies at Thiruvananthapuram.
Dube played a scintillating knock of 54 off just 30 deliveries after walking out to bat in the fourth over of the Indian innings after KL Rahul’s dismissal. He took on the West Indian bowlers from the very beginning and it seemed like he was batting on a different pitch as Rohit Sharma first, and Virat Kohli later, struggled with their timing at the other end.
The 26-year-old also ended up as India’s top scorer during the match. Even though India went on to lose the match eventually, Dube’s performance can be considered to be a big positive. In fact, he became only the second Indian player after Robin Uthappa to score his maiden T20 fifty in an international match. Uthappa achieved the unique feat against Pakistan at Durban during the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup in 2007.
Dube also went on to say in the post-match conference that he was quite satisfied with his own performance but wasn’t completely happy as the result didn’t go in India’s favour.
“Really special for me because it is first 50 from my side to the Indian team. But not happy because winning the match is more important for me,” Dube said in the post-match press conference.
“We dropped some catches but I think it is part of the match. We lost the match today but I think we will come back in the next match,” he added.
Dube is now averaging 32 with the bat and 27.33 with the ball after five T20Is for India. He is becoming an important part of India’s jigsaw for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia.