Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar slammed the team management’s decision to promote Shivam Dube up the batting order as India took on Bangladesh in the Super 4s clash in Dubai on September 24, 2025.
India was asked to bat first after stand-in Bangladesh captain Jaker Ali won the toss. Abhishek Sharma slammed 75 in 37 balls with 6 fours and 5 sixes and added 77 runs in 6.2 overs with Shubman Gill, who fell for 29 in 19 balls.
Everyone was quite surprised to see Shivam Dube being promoted to the no. 3 spot when Suryakumar Yadav was expected to bat. However, the experiment didn’t last long, as Dube perished for 2 runs in 3 balls, and then Surya fell for 5 runs in 11 balls.
Bangladesh fielded extremely well and restricted India to 168/6 despite the fiery start with Hardik Pandya slamming 38 in 29 balls. Rishad Hossain took 2/27 in 3 overs.
“With every batter in this Indian team a phenomenal hitter against both pace & spin, it makes no sense to send Shivam Dube up the order,” former India batter Manjrekar wrote in a post on X.
“You never know who’s making those decisions. I think someone’s getting restless inside and is feeling a bit of FOMO. That change may have affected the flow a little bit, but the fielding played the bigger role,” Manjrekar later said on Sony Sports.
On the other hand, ex-India pacer Dodda Ganesh was left scratching his head to see Sanju Samson being pushed to no. 8.
Despite having batted at that position in all 12 innings for India since the conclusion of the T20 World Cup last year, including three century runs, Samson was not selected as the team's official opener for the Asia Cup. Before being put at No. 5, he batted at No. 3 against Oman and scored a patient fifty.
However, against Bangladesh, even Axar Patel was sent ahead of Samson, who scored 10* in 15 balls.
Furious at the move, former Indian cricketer Dodda Ganesh shared his frustration, tweeting, “Sanju Samson at no. 8 defies any cricketing logic. It’s simply unacceptable.”
India needs a win against Bangladesh to qualify for the final of the Asia Cup 2025. They do have a match left, as they play Sri Lanka next on Friday.
