T20 World Cup 2024: Aakash Chopra Expects Shivam Dube to Retain Place Despite Pressure to Perform

June 22, 2024 0 873

Aakash Chopra believes India will stick with Shivam Dube over Sanju Samson for their T20 World Cup Super 8 match against Bangladesh, but emphasized that Dube must start performing better with the bat.

Aakash Chopra believes India will retain Shivam Dube for their T20 World Cup Super 8 match against Bangladesh on June 22 in North Sound, Antigua. Despite Dube’s recent struggles with the bat, Chopra thinks the team management will prefer him over Sanju Samson at No. 5.

India’s recent form includes a convincing 47-run win against Afghanistan, while Bangladesh lost by 28 runs to Australia in their Super 8 opener. Chopra emphasized that Dube needs to improve his batting performance to justify his place in the team. He then expressed hope that key players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will also deliver strong performances in the upcoming match.

In the 2024 T20 World Cup, Shivam Dube has scored 44 runs across four innings, averaging 22.00 with a strike rate of 83.01. His best performance was an unbeaten 31 against the USA.

“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),” Chopra said when speaking on his YouTube channel.

“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,” he added.

Aakash Chopra further believes India’s top five batters need to play the full 20 overs to avoid lower-order batsmen having to bat. He noted that while Hardik Pandya is performing well, the team hasn’t reached its full potential yet.

“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,” the cricketer-turned commentator said.

“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 concluded.