MUMBAI:
Shivam Dube
's rise in the past year or so has finally seen the allrounder from Mumbai make it to India's
T20 World Cup squad
. Going into the tournament, the 30-year-old, who has been in blazing form this IPL season, having scored 350 runs in nine [email protected] and a strike rate of 172.41, could be India's main enforcer with the bat.
However, not too long ago, Dube's career seemed to be at the crossroads, before getting a fresh lease of life, thanks to Mumbai chief selector and former India pacer
Raju Kulkarni
.
During the 2022-23 domestic season, he played a vital part in Mumbai's
Syed Mushtaq Ali T20
triumph (186 runs in 10 [email protected] & eight [email protected]) but Dube didn't get to play a game in either the
Vijay Hazare Trophy
or the
Ranji Trophy
.
It meant that in July last year, when the West Zone selectors sat down to pick the zonals team for the
Deodhar Trophy
, Dube stood little chance. However, Kulkarni, who chaired the meeting, somehow managed to convince the others that the man deserved an opportunity.
Recounting the intense debate over Dube's selection, Kulkarni recalled, "Luckily for him, I could get him selected. There was a lot of opposition from other state's selectors who were saying he's not even playing in the Mumbai team. I said that he wasn't fit, but then they said that: 'He was with the Mumbai team. You dropped him. If you felt he wasn't good enough to play, how can we take him in the West Zone side?" Kulkarni told TOI.
To buttress his case for Dube, Kulkarni pointed out his fine show for the Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2023 (418 runs in 16 matches @38.00, strike rate 158.33) but even that was met with a counter-argument. "I said, if you are only going to talk about the Vijay Hazare Trophy performance, then we should not be sitting here and a computer should select the team," Kulkarni said.
Kulkarni held his ground and Dube's name was eventually penned in. "I told them that this wasn't an exam, that we were only going to consider someone who played for Mumbai last season. I said we have to consider the potential of a player who has played for India, even if his performance wasn't great. He could find form with just one innings. Somebody from Saurashtra said 'We are the Ranji and Vijay Hazare champions. What's the point in winning both the trophies if we can't get our players in'. I ultimately got my way through, as they reluctantly agreed to pick him.
"Subsequently, he performed well in the Deodhar Trophy (119 runs in five [email protected] & three [email protected]), and the rest, as they say, is history! He was later selected for the Indian team for the Ireland T20Is. He performed well there, and went to China for the Asian Games (in the first week of October). He did well for Mumbai also (scored 407 runs in five [email protected] & took 12 [email protected] in the Ranji Trophy)," Kulkarni said.
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