Veteran commentator Aakash Chopra recently expressed his dissent after Shivam Dube failed to be in the 17-member squad for three T20Is against South Africa. However, Chopra questioned how Dube couldn’t find a place in the squad despite warming the bench throughout the home T20I series against Australia as well.
Aakash Chopra wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter): “Sometimes you wonder about selections and certain players. India picked Shivam Dubey for a 5-match T20i series vs Australia. Didn’t play him in a single match. Now, he doesn’t make it to the 17-member squad vs SA. How does one communicate this to a player?”
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However, Shivam Dube played his last game for India at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou, China as well. He scored an unbeaten 25 in solitary innings and picked up one wicket against Afghanistan in the final. Dube came to the team after his brilliant performances for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the last edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) where he smashed 418 runs in 16 matches at a strike rate of 158.33, including three half-centuries as well.
Meanwhile, former India cricketer Zaheer Khan believed that the team management missed out on testing the talented all-rounder Shivam Dube during the home T20I series win over Australia.
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He recently told Cricbuzz: “You look at Australia how they have gone about approaching this series. So, you [also] could’ve done that. Right now, knowing that Hardik is not fit, you want to look at those options. If they (things) don’t go as per plan, then this is the opportunity missed for sure because you had a chance. You won the series right now. You could have tried different players and if it means that one of your main players is sitting out, it doesn’t matter.”
