All-rounder Shivam Dube revealed the message from head coach Rahul Dravid and skipper Rohit Sharma about his bowling ahead of the T20 World Cup. Dube is only the second fast-bowling all-rounder in the Indian team for the T20 WC, but he has not bowled much in recent times, which has put him under a bit of a scanner. He got to bowl only one over in IPL 2024; however, the bright sign there was thathe managed to claim a wicket in the six balls he bowled.
The Impact Player rule in the cash-rich league impacted his chance to get more opportunities with the ball; however, he still managed to get picked in India’s T20 World Cup squad after his exploits with the bat.
Ahead of India’s T20 WC opener against Ireland, Dube revealed that he kept working hard on his bowling during the IPL 2024.
“I got to bowl only one over in IPL but it turned out to be a positive as I got the wicket in that over. I was working hard in the nets because I knew which aspect I needed to work on and so when I got the chance in the match it worked in my favour,” Dube told Star Sports.
The CSK all-rounder further opened up on the conversation he had with head coach Dravid and skipper Rohit during the Afghanistan T20Is – the last India assignment in the shortest format before the T20 World Cup.
“Rahul bhai and Rohit bhai have told me that I might get to bowl 2-3 overs anytime, so I need to be ready for that. Rahul sir also told me to express myself during the Afghanistan series as the management wanted to look at me as an all-rounder. I got the freedom during the series. Rohit bhai also told me you will get chance to bat and bowl as he wanted to see what can I bring to the table as an all-rounder, which was a good chance for me and I grabbed it well,” he added.
The 30-year-old all-rounder also rolled his arms in the warm-up match against Bangladesh and claimed a couple of wickets for 13 runs in 3 overs.