‘Grounded’ Shivam Dube not fussed about T20 World Cup selection

Listen to Story Shivam Dube said that he prefers ‘staying in the present’ rather than cluttering his mind with thoughts of his selection in the T20 World Cup to be held later this year in the West Indies and the United States of America (USA). Dube is most likely to be a back up all rounder for Hardik Pandya if he gets picked in the eventual squad.

The southpaw has been in stupendous form, having scored back to back half centuries against Ibrahim Zadran’s Afghanistan. “In the past, I thought many times about what would happen next. Now, I’ve got to know that I have to be in the present and focus on what I have to do to improve myself. I just try to keep myself grounded and try to focus on what I have to do,” Dube was quoted as saying on Jio Cinemas.

Dube won the Player of the Match award after he played a 60 run knock off 40 balls at the PCA Stadium in Mohali. The left hander backed it up with a knock of 63 runs off 32 balls with the help of five fours and four sixes in the second T20I at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore. “It is exciting to keep improving my performance as I go on.

Having the range of shots is a god gift and I have worked on that a lot,” he stated. Dube also put on a partnership of 92 runs with Yashasvi Jaiswal for the third wicket as India chased down a stiff target of 173 with 26 balls left in their innings. The youngster talked about working on playing short balls and how the hard yards he has put in have paid dividends.

“I worked a lot (on playing short balls). When I was playing domestic cricket, I was able to dominate the bowlers. But when I came to IPL and Indian cricket, it was not easy facing balls at over 140 km/h. So, I worked a lot with sidearms, and it is more about the mindset which I worked on. I always had that shot in my game, but playing it at this level is a little difficult as you have to work a lot,” Dube added.

After by six wickets, Dube and India will head to Bengaluru where they will face the Afghans in the third game at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium..