Former Indian player Sadagopan Ramesh questioned the decision to play all-rounder Shivam Dube as their third seam-bowling option after a convincing nine-wicket win against the UAE in their Asia Cup 2025 opener. To strengthen their batting till No. 8, Team India played only three specialist bowling options against the UAE -Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, and Shivam Dube played as all-rounders as well.

“There was a time when Hardik Pandya was our third seamer in T20s. Now, if Shivam Dube is your third seamer, the graph is heading down there itself. Yes, he bowled well yesterday but it was against a side anyone can bowl well against,” he said (via his YouTube channel). “Going forward, against decent sides, this could become a challenge. They are preferring Shivam Dube over Rinku Singh only because of the bowling and the third seaming option. It is clear that the management has consistently shown faith in Shivam Dube. It’s a good thing but it remains to be seen if he repays the trust.”

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Sadagopan Ramesh further asked whether demoting Sanju Samson in the batting order was a sign of his slowly becoming expendable from the team as well. However, Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill opened the batting against the UAE and added 48 off 23 balls for the first wicket.

“Shubman Gill has started opening and Sanju Samson has been pushed down the order. One starts questioning if Sanju Samson is slowly being pushed out. Yes, we can say he’s going to play at No. 4 or 5. But in T20 cricket, there is a big difference between batting in the powerplay and batting without the advantage of the powerplay against quality bowling attacks. There is a good chance of Sanju Samson facing challenges in the middle order,” Sadagopan Ramesh concluded.