Kamal Ghorui
India may have secured a comfortable win over Zimbabwe, but not everything went perfectly on the night. All-rounder Shivam Dube endured a tough spell with the ball, leaking 46 runs in just two overs as the sixth bowling option. While he has previously delivered handy contributions when captain Suryakumar Yadav has called upon him, this outing was far from ideal.Dube looked short of rhythm and control, struggling to maintain a consistent line and length. He failed to hit the off-side cut strip regularly and compounded matters with four wides and a couple of no-balls. Thankfully for India, net run rate was no longer a factor in their semi-final equation. Otherwise, such an expensive spell could have created complications.
Former India opener Krishnamachari Srikkanth analysed the performance on his show ‘Cheeky Cheeka’, acknowledging that it was a batting-friendly surface but raising concerns over Dube’s accuracy.“I don’t think bowling is a concern. It was a good batting track. My only concern is the sixth bowler. Did you see where Dube was bowling? He was bowling on the sixth stump. I have not seen bowling like that,” he said on ‘Cheeky Cheeka’.Srikkanth suggested that India’s large total allowed them the freedom to experiment and offer Dube additional overs, with the primary objective being victory rather than boosting net run rate.“I think they had the luxury of runs behind them so they wanted to give some bowling practice. The question of net run rate was out of the window. It was just about winning the game,” he added.Looking ahead, the former skipper exuded confidence in India’s balance and depth, insisting that the side remains firmly on course despite the earlier defeat to South Africa.“I said that even after losing to South Africa, India would win in Chennai and would be on the road to win the cup. It is a gun team. Arshdeep bowling well, Bumrah bowling well, Varun and Hardik are decent. You will not need to try six bowlers against the West Indies. If needed, we can look into it when the semifinal comes,” he said.
