Asia Cup 2025: Shivam Dube – India’s surprise pace ace against Pakistan

Shivam Dube – India’s surprise pace ace against Pakistan (BCCI Photo)

Given how little Shivam Dube has bowled in recent years, it always seemed a stretch to call him an all-rounder. But various coaches and captains in the Indian Premier League (IPL), and with the national side, always believed that he had that second string to his bow. In the ongoing Asia Cup, the 32-year-old Dube has set about proving it.

Since he made his debut for India back in 2019, Dube has been given the ball in just 27 of the 39 T20Is he has played. Sunday’s high-voltage clash against Pakistan at the Dubai International Stadium was only the third time he had completed his quota of overs. In retrospect, giving him the 18th over was perhaps a mistake, as Mohammad Nawaz and Salman Agha took 17 from it. But till then, Dube had been almost faultless, not even conceding a boundary in his first three overs.

On a night when India’s new-ball bowlers – Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah – got a real caning, Dube was the pick of the pacers. He hit the deck hard, getting awkward bounce from a length, and it was his wickets that pushed Pakistan right back after a blazing start.

Several catches had gone down before Abhishek Sharma took a superb one on the dive to send back Saim Ayub off Dube’s bowling. The catch won the plaudits, but it was a short-of-length delivery outside off that had induced the top edge and the chance. Few had expected Dube to be a factor on the UAE’s slow pitches, especially after he bowled just one over in India’s T20 World Cup triumph (2024), but he has now made decisive interventions against both the UAE (3-4) and Pakistan (2-33).

The key, game-turning, wicket on Sunday was undoubtedly that of Sahibzada Farhan, whose machine-gun celebration on reaching his half-century had irked India’s players and fans alike. A Dube off-cutter deceived him to such an extent that the bat flew out of his hand before the miscue was caught by Suryakumar Yadav at mid-off.

In the IPL, Dube has enjoyed four seasons with Chennai Super Kings (CSK), catching the eye with his middle-order hitting. As a bowler, however, he has been invisible, sending down just five overs for one wicket in that time. But Gautam Gambhir and India’s think-tank have clearly seen something CSK haven’t, and Dube has allowed them to go into matches in the UAE with just one specialist pace bowler. It may not be a long-term solution, but Dube can look back on one of the biggest matches of his life with great satisfaction.