The man in form, Shivam Dube finally made his World Cup debut as India took on Ireland in their opening match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York on Wednesday. (Match Blog | Scorecard | Full Coverage)
After making his T20 international debut in November 2019, Dube has played 22 T20Is for India so far. He got a place in the T20 World Cup team after his sensational batting run in the recently concluded IPL 2024.
He was also part of the Indian team which hosted Afghanistan for a T20I bilateral series in February this year. He displayed his aggressive style of batting in that series and made two unbeaten half-centuries in the first two matches.
He continued that form and made 396 runs for his team Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL 2024 in 14 league-stage matches. He mostly featured as an Impact player in those matches.
The 30-year-old Mumbai batter is a right-arm medium-pace bowler as well. His all-round ability gives the Indian team the flexibility to play one extra batter in the Playing XI. He has taken eight wickets in 22 T20Is so far.
As Dube finally made his World Cup debut against Ireland, ace spinner Yuzvendra Chahal is still waiting for his debut in the T20 World Cup. Chahal is India's leading wicket-taker in the shortest format with 96 T20I wickets in 80 matches.
India vs Ireland, Playing XIs:
India: Rohit Sharma(c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj
Ireland: Paul Stirling(c), Andrew Balbirnie, Lorcan Tucker(w), Harry Tector, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Gareth Delany, Mark Adair, Barry McCarthy, Joshua Little, Benjamin White
