With less than a month’s time left before India kicked off their T20 World Cup campaign in New York against Ireland on June 5, former India head coach Ravi Shastri picked two players who will play a key role in the side’s title hopes. And it’s neither Virat Kohli nor captain Rohit Sharma who will likely play their final T20I appearance at the tournament. Shastri instead picked two left-handed batters who are all set to make a debut in a multi-nation ICC tournament for India – Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube. Ravi Shastri picks 2 players key to India’s T20 World Cup hopes Jaiswal has stated success recently after smashing a record tally of runs in the Test series against England at home earlier this year, which is part of the ongoing ICC World Test Championship series. However, he has been a force to reckon with in the shortest format as well, where he amassed 502 runs in just 16 innings for India since his debut in mid-2023, which comprises a century and four fifties. “The two gentlemen you’ve got to watch out for, and both are left-handers, both playing their first World Cup,” Shastri told ICC. “One is [Yashasvi] Jaiswal. We know a lot about him, he did extremely well against England, explosive at the top of the order, left-hander, he’s young, he’s fearless and he’ll play shots.” ‘Watch out for Shivam Dube’: Ravi Shastri The other player that Shastri picked is Chennai Super Kings star Dube, who cracked 26 sixes in just 11 matches in the ongoing IPL 2024 season. The left-hander earned his spot in the Indian T20 World Cup squad on the back of a stellar show in the T20 league in 2023 and 2024, along with his two back-to-back fifties for India in the home T20I contest against Afghanistan earlier in January. “But there’s someone in the middle order, please watch out for [him], because he is explosive, he’s devastating and he’s a match-winner. He hits sixes for fun, and when it comes to spin bowling, he can kill you,” Shastri said. “He’ll park a few balls out of Long Island into the small island, he’s that kind of a player. He hits it big, he hits it long, and like I said, against spin, he could kill you. “Even against the fast bowlers, he’s worked out his game, he’s understood the way to play and I think he holds the key at that number five, number six position because if you’re on the doldrums, you want someone to change it in 20-25 balls, he’s the player to go to.” Shastri was effusive in his praise for the tall all-rounder saying that he could be the key to unlocking big totals for India in the T20 World Cup. Dube has struck at a rate of 170.73 in this ongoing IPL season, while scoring a boundary in almost four deliveries. “His strike rate, which will be close to 200 most of the time, will help India immensely in going forward, getting those 190s, 200s that are needed in big competitions, especially like the [T20] World Cup. So enjoy it, watch out for this left-hander — he’s big, he’s strapping, and he hits a long ball.”
