Former wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik questioned the Indian team's lineup and bowling strategy in the recent fifth T20I against England in Southampton on July 11. Karthik’s criticism included asking why India didn’t play with five proper bowlers and then had to bowl Shivam Dube in the 19th over.
At the Rose Bowl in Southampton, the Shreyas Iyer-led team lost by 56 runs to end the series with a score of 0–4.
Suryansh Shedge, who took Washington Sundar's spot in the India XI, gave up 24 runs in his third over. This meant that England crossed the 250-run threshold when Shivam Dube was asked to bowl the 19th over and went for 22 runs.
"If you look at India's bowling effort, they gave away 17 sixes and five 20-plus run overs. Why was the bowling so compromised? The fifth bowler was Shivam Dube/Suryansh Shedge; now that is a lot of pressure. On a day when one of the top four bowlers goes for runs, which happened with Axar Patel and Prince Yadav being taken down, who do they fall back on? They literally had nobody. Then why choose a playing XI where you don't have five frontline bowlers?" Dinesh Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
"We know they have not trusted Shivam Dube too much with the ball. Even in this game, they started with Suryansh Shedge ahead of Dube, and Suryansh went for runs in his third over, which meant the fourth over probably had to be completed by Dube, who came in and bowled the 19th over straight, and that went for 22 runs," he added.
Shivam Dube bowled three overs in the entire series, where he conceded 47 runs at an economy of 15.66 and took two wickets.
The trip will continue with three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) between India and England, beginning on Tuesday, July 14. The first match of the series will be held at Edgbaston Stadium in Birmingham.
