Former Indian wicket-keeper Saba Karim showered praise on Shivam Dube after India won the T20 World Cup title. India defeated New Zealand by 96 runs in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, on Sunday, to win their third T20 World Cup crown.
Dube once again added the finishing touches in the final, scoring a quickfire cameo of 8-ball 26 to lift India’s score to 255. The left-hander smashed three fours and two sixes as he scored at a whirlwind strike rate of 325. India was going all guns blazing but veered off the track a bit between overs 15 to 18 however Dube got the job done in the last two overs.
Dube scored 235 runs in eight innings of the tournament at an average of 29.16 and a blistering strike rate of 169.06.
Saba Karim said on the KADAK YouTube Channel, “Yes, there has been growth. I feel he has been a very integral force for the Indian team this year in winning the World Cup. The way he has worked on his game and the way he has opened up different areas of his batting has been impressive. Now he is a player who can play shots all around the wicket, and most of them are conventional shots. His swing is very good and his impact is excellent. If you bowl a short ball, he can pull it. If the ball comes into his arc, he can even play shots outside off stump.
“In the final, on the last ball, he hit a boundary. Mid-off was up and the ball was short, but he went on the back foot and punched it over mid-off for four. So Shivam Dube has worked a lot on expanding his range of shots,” he added.
The former Indian selector said Dube’s high backlift gives him an advantage to clear the boundary rope consistently.
“I think another big factor is that many batters struggle to score runs when the pitch becomes difficult, and their scoring rate gets affected. But we do not see that kind of issue with Shivam Dube. Whether the pitch is slow, whether the ball is stopping on the surface, or whether the pitch is fast, his high backlift gives him an advantage. No matter which bowler he faces or what the pitch conditions are, it does not affect Shivam Dube’s run-making. Scoring runs at strike rates of 170, 175, or even 200 has been an unbelievable performance from him.”
Dube did a fantastic job as a finisher in the T20I showpiece and deserves a lot of credit for India’s successful run.
