Till Suryakumar Yadav walked out for the toss in Dubai on Wednesday, none envisaged that Arshdeep Singh would sit out while Shivam Dube would make the playing XI.
Hours later, Dube with his triple strike in the Asia Cup opener against UAE had made his presence felt in what is being viewed as a testing ground for the T20 World Cup next year.
India’s formation is a blueprint for the tougher battles ahead and provides balance and batting depth, which could come into effect against more distinguished opponents.
“The captain and the coach told me earlier itself that I will bowl and that they are confident about me,” Dube said at the news conference. “My bowling coach (Morne Morkel) has told me a lot of things. I was preparing for this for a long time, that I will get an opportunity to bowl and when it comes, I’ll be ready. What happened today (Wednesday) is because of that preparation.”
Dube’s role at CSK has been more of a power-hitter, but in the current Indian set-up, he is being viewed as a useful sixth bowler. Perhaps the slow surfaces in the subcontinent will work in his favour.
