Shivam Dube hits his first List A half-century (Source: Twitter)
Shivam Dube made headlines for hitting five sixes in a row in a Ranji game. Soon after, Dube shot to fame when he was picked up for a whopping five crores in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 auction by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). But, the 25-year-old struggled to live up to the hype and scored just 40 runs from four games entering the unfortunate list of underperformers of the season.
23 games into the List A format, the Mumbai batsman was still searching for his first half-century. Batting lower down the order, the average of 25.13 did not help him either but he got chances because he was considered one of the promising prospects.
In the first unofficial ODI against South Africa A on Thursday, Shivam Dube came in to bat in a tricky situation. India A had lost five wickets for 169 in the 28th over. Just when Dube thought that he was stringing together a partnership with Krunal Pandya, he got out too.
There was a need to stabilize the innings, just knock the ball around for singles but it was not Dube’s way of approaching the innings. The left-handed batsman often compared to Yuvraj Singh for his big-hitting skills did not curb his instincts to go after the bowlers.
As Temba Bavuma continued with spinners, Dube kept hitting them for big shots, often succeeding in hitting it over the ropes. The southpaw got support from Axar Patel who matched him shot by shot.
That’s a well compiled FIFTY for Shivam Dube 👏🇮🇳
India A 252/6 after 42 overs https://t.co/b2AgNFKEI3 #INDAvSAA pic.twitter.com/qVQ3yi5CoB
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) August 29, 2019
Dropped twice in the innings, Dube made South Africa A pay for their mistakes scoring an unbeaten 60-ball 79 including three fours and six sixes. He and Patel shared a seventh-wicket partnership of 121 runs from 68 deliveries. Patel scored a 36-ball 60 to help the hosts maximise the death overs.
The two left-handed batsmen traumatised South Africa A bowlers by scoring 71 runs from the last five overs helping the Manish Pandey-led side post a daunting total of 327 for 6 in 47 overs.
Innings Break!
India A post a stupendous total of 327/6
Live – https://t.co/b2AgNFKEI3 #INDAvSAA pic.twitter.com/ihv5JvFy79
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) August 29, 2019
With India’s ODI side for the South Africa series yet to be decided, Dube has got off to a good start to make his case for selection as India’s lower-order batsman.
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