Former India batter Aakash Chopra has questioned the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee over the absence of all-rounder Shivam Dube from the squad for the upcoming T20I series against England. Dube, who was part of the T20 World Cup-winning side last year, has fallen out of favour under the regime of head coach Gautam Gambhir and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar. Dube travelled to Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka for the T20I series after the World Cup triumph but was ignored for the subsequent home series against Bangladesh, as well as the away tour of South Africa.
“What happened to Shivam Dube? I wanted to talk about Ruturaj (Gaikwad) as well but he is not able to make his place. Rajat Patidar is also there. Obviously, there is a lot of batting. However, now I am going to focus a little bit on Shivam Dube. He was a member of the T20 World Cup-winning team,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“When you win, everyone should get the credit. He even played decently in the final. Before that, there were definitely some questions that he wasn’t fielding or batting well. However, then he played well and became the T20 World Cup champion,” he added.
While it seems that the selectors have decided to zero down on Nitish Kumar Reddy as Hardik Pandya‘s all-rounder, Chopra feels Dube deserved a longer rope in the team, especially with the southpaw playing a crucial role in India’s T20 World Cup triumph.
“After that, he remained injured a little, didn’t get too many opportunities either, and is now out of the team. No one is talking about him as well. Riyan Parag is not being talked about because he is injured but no one is asking where Dube went. He suddenly disappeared from the horizon,” Chopra questioned.
Chopra suggested that even if Dube was out injured for a while, the player should’ve walked straight into the team after recovery.
“If he was good enough to be a part of the World Cup squad, I am sure he would be worthy of playing for another one or two years. He has remained out because of injury, but there was a theory earlier that whoever goes out due to injury, will come back in first, and whoever replaced him would have to sit out no matter what he might have done,” he explained.
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