Former India cricketer Suresh Raina believes that Shivam Dube will be an integral part, or more like an x-factor, for the Indian cricket team during their upcoming T20 World Cup 2024 campaign. Based on Dube’s brilliant batting form during India’s T20I series against Afghanistan in January, and then in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Raina deems Dube as a must-have in the India playing eleven for the World Cup. From the time when BCCI announced their pick of squad for the World Cup, the 30-year-old Dube gained a lot of attention, speculating what sort of involvement he would have in the squad.
Dube found a brilliant touch with the bat during the Afghanistan series, where he gave a man of the series performance by scoring a total of 124 runs in his two appearances, and also took two crucial wickets. By scoring a 60-run knock off 40 balls at the PCA Stadium in Mohali, followed by an unbeaten 63 off just 32 balls, Dube became an integral factor in India’s series win. On the other hand, Dube carried his impressive form for CSK in IPL 2024, where he scored 396 runs in his 14 matches. This long string of impressive performances with his consistent explosive nature with the bat has only heightened the anticipation for Dube to be a great addition to the India batting order.
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Speaking at the launch ceremony of the World Championship of Leagues, Raina explained how Dube can be the point of difference for India during the World Cup with his aggressive batting approach.
“He has to play in the World Cup. See, the ability to stand still while hitting those big sixes is very rare. Shivam Dube can be the x-factor for India to win the World Cup. So Rohit will have to take the call whether he wants to play Virat (Kohli) up the top, but then Yashasvi is also batting with a different kind of flair. If the situation arises, Shivam can also bowl for the side,” Raina said.
With the likes of Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja and even Rishabh Pant also a part of India’s rich arsenal of big-hitting batters for the World Cup, it will be interesting to see how Dube is ultimately utilised in the playing eleven.
