Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar has expressed his excitement about watching all-rounder Shivam Dube play against spinners in the second half of the T20 World Cup 2024.
Shivam Dube, who is playing his first ICC tournament for India, had a failed leg of the T20 World Cup 2024 in the United States. Of the first three Group A matches he played against Ireland, Pakistan and the United States, Dube was able to score runs freely only against the co-hosts; Otherwise, he remained a huge failure.
Despite not bowling in the WC, Shivam Dube has made minimal contributions with the bat. If the Indian team wants to win the World T20 for the first time since 2007, then the left-handed batsman should achieve top form from him. The form he showed in the Indian Premier League over the last two seasons for the Chennai Super Kings.
It was at CSK where the world really took notice of Shivam Dube’s ability to beat spinners at will. In the West Indies, where India will play all three Super 8 matches, the conditions will be conducive to spin and it will be interesting to see if he can replicate his spin prowess.
What did Sanjay Manjrekar say about Shivam Dube?
Sanjay Manjrekar was recently talking to PTI when he was asked about the curious case of Shivam Dube. Manjrekar was asked if Dube would be successful against spinners in the World Cup.
Sanjay Manjrekar wasn’t too sure about that as he said that most of Shivam Dube’s runs against spinners in IPL came on flatter deliveries. At the West Indies headquarters, Manjrekar claimed that it will be a totally different ball game because he would not get many opportunities to score runs.
“We will have to wait and see. You are right because the knock you saw (during the IPL) from Shivam Dube was on some of the flattest pitches in the world and that too in a long league, a lot doesn’t depend on one game. “The pressures of the World Cup are different,” Manjrekar told PTI.
Sanjay Manjrekar also expressed his excitement to see if Shivam Dube is able to double his hitting power against spinners or not.
“So we have to wait and see if Shivam Dube can replicate what he did in the IPL against the spinners because you are right, it will not be as easy to hit the spinners as it was on the Indian pitches, so we need to see if Dube can improve their power hitting skills against spinners on these tracks,” concluded Sanjay Manjrekar.
Notably, Shivam Dube displayed excellent touch with the bat in the first half of the Indian Premier League 2024 and destroyed the opposing teams with his attacking style of cricket. Dube’s brilliant performances led the BCCI selection committee to pick him in the 15-man squad instead of Rinku Singh, who has done remarkable work for the Indian National Cricket Team in the limited opportunities he received. However, since his selection in the T20 World Cup squad, Shivam Dube has not been at his best and has been struggling to get going.
