Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan questioned India’s fast-bowling options after the Asia Cup 2025 win against the UAE. India played with only one genuine fast bowler in Jasprit Bumrah and played with two seam-bowling all-rounders in Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya.
While Hardik Pandya went wicketless, Dube picked three wickets against the home team. However, Pathan raised doubts about whether Pandya would be able to deliver while bowling in the death overs.
Meanwhile, Arshdeep Singh is India’s most successful bowler in T20Is with 99 scalps but he was surprisingly left out of the team’s playing XI.
Irfan Pathan said on his YouTube Channel, “Look, Arshdeep is the highest wicket-taker in T20 cricket. If that guy doesn’t play, it’s obvious, he hasn’t played in England either. Okay, that makes sense there, but not playing here brings this scenario to my mind. If it’s a knockout match and Bumrah is bowling from one end, you can say with your eyes closed that he’s your best bowler. But if spin is operating from the other end, that’s fine, because you can handle three spinners and try to survive till the 16th or 17th over; the spin attack keeps coming.”
“But a situation arose where the ball is getting wet and not gripping. If you only have two fast bowlers, you count Shivam Dube as a medium pacer, but in a difficult situation, you’ll look for Hardik. But is Hardik’s strength bowling yorkers? Can he bowl six yorkers in six balls? His strengths are bowling into the pitch, bowling bouncers, and bowling hard lengths.”
“So if the game gets stuck in such a situation, how do you get out of it? That’s what needs to be seen. On a big field, you can still use bouncers, but when it comes to yorkers, you’ll definitely miss Arshdeep because he’s the kind of bowler we’ve seen in the World Cup, and regularly in T20 cricket, who can bowl yorkers for his team, even six yorkers in six balls. He can absolutely do that. So, that guy not being there, I think, today or tomorrow, because if you only have two fast bowlers, he can be missed,” he added.
On the other hand, Dube returned with impressive figures of 3-4 in two overs he bowled against UAE and Pathan said it was medium pacer’s best performance of his International career.
“Good thing was that Shivam Dube, as an all-rounder, got the best performance of his international career today. He took three wickets and bowled well. He looked in good rhythm. He got an LBW, a caught-behind, and a wicket off a slow run. You know, that catch by Suryakumar was excellent. So these were two big positives.”
“Because if Shivam Dube, as the sixth bowler, can come and bowl one or two overs effectively, it makes it much easier for the captain and the Indian team to manage the game. Seeing his confidence and “feel-good” factor was very encouraging. Of course, when a stronger team comes, things might change, the numbers might not remain the same, but it was very important for Shivam Dube to bowl regularly so that he can take wickets and be effective,” he added.
India will next take on arch-rivals Pakistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai, on Sunday.
