Ravi Shastri Picks Two T20 World Cup Debutants For India’s Title Hopes In USA, West Indies – WATCH
Led by Rohit Sharma, the Indian team has already announced the 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup 2024.
New Delhi: Former India head coach Ravi Shastri handpicked Shivam Dube and Yashasvi Jaiswal as key to the Men in Blue’s title hopes at the T20 World Cup 2024. Interestingly, both the players will be playing their maiden T20 World Cup. The tournament begins on June 1 in the USA and West Indies. Both Jaiswal and Dube found their names in the 15-member Indian squad after terrific shows with the bat in IPL and national colours over the course of a year.
Making his international debut in West Indies last year, the southpaw has been in terrible form with the bat at the top and along with Rohit Sharma, combines for a perfect left-right opening combination. Starting from his white-ball exploits, Jaiswal continued his rich form with consecutive double centuries in England in the five-match Test series at home in February-March. He also scored a hundred in the ongoing IPL 2024 for Rajasthan Royals.
“The two gentlemen you’ve got to watch out for, and both are left-handers, both playing their first World Cup,” Shastri told ICC. “One is [Yashasvi] Jaiswal. We know a lot about him, he did extremely well against England, explosive at the top of the order, left-hander, he’s young, he’s fearless and he’ll play shots,” said Shastri, who was India’s coach until 2021.
On the other hand, Dube smashed 26 sixes in 11 matches so far in the ongoing IPL and is in top form with the bat. The Mumbai batter reinvented his game after coming to Chennai Super Kings and has become a different player all-together under MS Dhoni’s guidance.
Shastri went on to pick Dube as another player to watch out for from the Indian squad. “But there’s someone in the middle order, please watch out for [him], because he is explosive, he’s devastating and he’s a match-winner. He hits sixes for fun, and when it comes to spin bowling, he can kill you,” he said.
“He’ll park a few balls out of Long Island into the small island, he’s that kind of a player. He hits it big, he hits it long, and like I said, against spin, he could kill you. “Even against the fast bowlers, he’s worked out his game, he’s understood the way to play and I think he holds the key at that number five, number six position because if you’re on the doldrums, you want someone to change it in 20-25 balls, he’s the player to go to,” added Shastri.
The left-hander has been a vital cog in the CSK middle order for the past two seasons and has a strike rate of 170.73 in the ongoing edition of IPL. So far, Dube has scored 350 runs in 11 games this year. Shastri felt Dube’s big-hitting could unlock big totals for India in the competition.
“His strike rate, which will be close to 200 most of the time, will help India immensely in going forward, getting those 190s, 200s that are needed in big competitions, especially like the [T20] World Cup. “So enjoy it, watch out for this left-hander — he’s big, he’s strapping, and he hits a long ball,” he said.
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