Veteran commentator Aakash Chopra said that India will persist with Shivam Dube for their 2024 T20 World Cup Super 8 clash against Bangladesh as well. The two sides will take on each other in North Sound, Antigua, on Saturday, June 22. The Indian Team head into Saturday’s game after a comfortable 47-run win against Afghanistan in Barbados two days ago. On the other hand, Bangladesh suffered a 28-run defeat via the DLS method against Australia in Antigua in their Super 8 opener on the same day as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said, “Shivam Dube – I feel he will be given one more opportunity because the team is probably not comfortable with Sanju at No. 5. So you might still see Shivam playing there, but it’s mandatory for Shivam to score runs. That’s my second wishlist (the first being runs from Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma). Both openers and Shivam Dube scoring runs is extremely necessary because if they don’t do that, they will go into the semi-final with zero confidence. The confidence is not being seen at all. You need that free-flowing Shivam Dube to be back, or else you might have to think of something.”
However, he urged India’s frontline batters to play the entire 20 overs as well. The veteran commentator also added that India haven’t played to their potential and must iron out their shortcomings as well.
“There is no problem with Hardik (Pandya) but I have one more thing. I want the top five batters to play 20 overs because if Arshdeep (Singh), Axar (Patel), Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja), (Jasprit) Bumrah and Kuldeep (Yadav) get to bat, there is no point,” he said. “It actually happened in the last match. Kuldeep and Bumrah didn’t get to bat but everyone else got to bat. So if everyone so low in the order is going to get to bat, that’s not right. We haven’t played cricket as per our potential thus far. Our both openers haven’t fired and our No. 5 hasn’t played very well and despite that, we are playing very well – so it’s time to iron out the creases,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
