Team India, led by Rohit Sharma, are set to begin their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign against Ireland at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on June 5.
Ahead of the game, India’s probable playing XI is making all the noise, with experts sharing their views on it. It will be interesting to see if the Men in Blue will enter the match with two seam-bowling all-rounders -- Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube -- or pick either one of them in the team.
While only time will reveal the team composition, Dube has opened up on the message he has received from head coach Rahul Dravid and skipper Rohit Sharma about his bowling before India’s tournament opener.
Notably, Shivam Dube has not bowled much in recent times. He got to bowl only one over in the recently held IPL season due to the Impact Player rule. However, the CSK all-rounder still managed to secure a place in India’s T20 World Cup squad thanks to his impressive batting exploits.
"I got to bowl only one over in IPL but it turned out to be a positive as I got the wicket in that over. I was working hard in the nets because I knew which aspect I needed to work on and so when I got the chance in the match it worked in my favour," Dube told Star Sports.
The lanky cricketer then recalled the conversation he had with Dravid and Rohit during the T20I series against Afghanistan earlier this year.
"Rahul bhai and Rohit bhai have told me that I might get to bowl 2-3 overs anytime, so I need to be ready for that. Rahul sir also told me to express myself during the Afghanistan series as the management wanted to look at me as an all-rounder. I got the freedom during the series. Rohit bhai also told me you will get chance to bat and bowl as he wanted to see what can I bring to the table as an all-rounder, which was a good chance for me and I grabbed it well," he added.
It is pertinent to mention here that Shivam Dube rolled his arms in India’s only T20 World Cup 2024 warm-up match against Bangladesh on June 1 and managed to claim a couple of wickets by conceding 13 runs in three overs.
