"I feel he will be given one more opportunity" - Aakash Chopra on Shivam Dube's place in India's playing XI for 2024 T20 World Cup clash vs Bangladesh
Aakash Chopra reckons India will persist with Shivam Dube for their 2024 T20 World Cup Super 8 clash against Bangladesh. The two sides will square off in North Sound, Antigua, on Saturday, June 22.
The Men in Blue head into Saturday's game after a convincing 47-run win against Afghanistan in Barbados two days ago. On the flip side, the Bangla Tigers suffered a 28-run defeat via the DLS method against Australia in Antigua in their Super 8 opener on the same day.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra opined that India will continue to play Dube ahead of Sanju Samson. However, he acknowledged that the left-handed big-hitter needs to start firing with the bat.
"Shivam Dube - I feel he will be given one more opportunity because the team is probably not comfortable with Sanju at No. 5. So you might still see Shivam playing there, but it's mandatory for Shivam to score runs. That's my second wishlist (the first being runs from Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma)," he said (4:30).
The former India opener added that Dube needs to regain confidence and return to his free-scoring ways.
"Both openers and Shivam Dube scoring runs is extremely necessary because if they don't do that, they will go into the semi-final with zero confidence. The confidence is not being seen at all. You need that free-flowing Shivam Dube to be back, or else you might have to think of something," Chopra observed.
Dube has aggregated 44 runs at an average of 22.00 and a strike rate of 83.01 in four innings in the 2024 T20 World Cup. He scored a crucial unbeaten 31 in India's win against the United States of America but has been found wanting otherwise.
"I want the top 5 batters to play 20 overs" - Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra urged India's frontline batters to play the entire 20 overs.
"There is no problem with Hardik (Pandya) but I have one more thing. I want the top five batters to play 20 overs because if Arshdeep (Singh), Axar (Patel), Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja), (Jasprit) Bumrah and Kuldeep (Yadav) get to bat, there is no point," he said (5:00).
The reputed commentator added that Rohit Sharma and company haven't played to their potential and must iron out their shortcomings before the knockouts.
"It actually happened in the last match. Kuldeep and Bumrah didn't get to bat but everyone else got to bat. So if everyone so low in the order is going to get to bat, that's not right. We haven't played cricket as per our potential thus far. Our both openers haven't fired and our No. 5 hasn't played very well and despite that, we are playing very well - so it's time to iron out the creases," Chopra elaborated.
Rishabh Pant (116) and Suryakumar Yadav (112) are the only Indian players to aggregate more than 100 runs in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Suryakumar twice and Rohit once are the only batters to have scored a half-century.