Shivam Dube‘s first international stint with the Indian side had ended with one horrific over he had sent down in New Zealand in 2020. The 34-run over still remains as the most expensive ever conceded by an Indian in T20Is.
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Clawing back to the first-choice national set-up four years later on the back of his big-hitting prowess in the IPL, Dube played throughout India’s victorious 2024 T20 World Cup in the Americas as a designated lower-order finisher, bowling only six balls of military medium pace in the entire campaign.
Building up for a title defence now, Dube has remained a vital member in the rehearsals since September. However, it is his sharper bowling pursuits that are making a difference in a full-strength India XI where he operates as the lower-order slugger and the second all-round seam option behind Hardik Pandya. The management’s growing faith in Dube’s bowling has also coincided with his improved range of options with the ball.
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The 32-year-old is discernibly up on speeds and has begun to extract movement both ways off the seam. The added responsibilities have meant that Dube has chipped in with 12 wickets with a dismissal every dozen deliveries this year, already one greater than the 11 scattered scalps he collected between 2019 and 2024.
“I have worked a lot in the off-season on my fitness. And when I am with the Indian team, I have many conversations with (bowling coach) Morne (Morkel). It helps me a lot,” Dube told reporters in Lucknow on the eve of the fourth match against South Africa.
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During the Asia Cup in September, Dube had credited Morkel’s inputs in helping him set up batters with smarter ploys at the crease. “He told me to bowl from outside [wider of the crease] and to bowl slower [from a certain angle]. I have been working on that for a long time. He also told me a few things about my bowling run-up. Because of these things, my bowling is getting better,” he had said.
In the decisive fourth T20I on the Australia tour last month, Dube had stubbed the home team’s 168-run chase by dismissing captain Mitchell Marsh and the dangerous Tim David with adept deployment of the off-cutter and a slower-bumper from varying angles at the crease. On Sunday in Dharamsala, he rocked South Africa all-rounder Corbin Bosch’s leg stump with a ball that scuttled in from the length, insisting that there are more tricks up his sleeve.
“T20 is a game where you have to be smart. I was smart when I bowled before, but I didn’t know when, how and what to apply. As soon as Gautam (Gambhir) and Suryakumar Yadav supported me and told me that I could do it, I put myself in those situations. I realised that I can bowl in challenging situations as well,” he added.
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