Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav always focuses on bowling maximum overs with Shivam Dubey to keep his sixth bowling option ready for adverse opportunities; However, the fast bowler’s performances have been extremely economical throughout this T20 World Cup. Former South African legend Faf du Plessis has also described him as India’s weakest link.
India claimed a big win over Zimbabwe in their second group stage game of the Super-8. However, the win could have been more than a margin of 100 runs had captain Suryakumar Yadav not experimented with Shivam Dubey, leaving Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah’s quota of overs unfulfilled.
Shivam Dubey appeared to be India’s weakest player, as he conceded 46 runs and took one wicket in his two overs. In conditions when Zimbabwe were chasing a mammoth target of 257, his economy of 23 proved that he is not the right man for India on flat pitches.
Faf du Plessis called Shivam Dubey the weakest link of India in the T20 World Cup.
After defeating Zimbabwe and South Africa and beating West Indies at the other end, the upcoming match against West Indies will be a do-or-die game for India. Whichever team wins among the two teams will directly reach the semi-finals.
From now on, India will face only the toughest of opponents, including West Indies in the final Super-8 clash, and perhaps New Zealand or England if they reach the semi-finals. This clearly means that they have to work with all the resources available.
Former South African captain Faf du Plessis said that Shivam Dubey is the weakest link for India as the sixth bowling option. If any day the frontline Indian bowlers get beaten, Suryakumar will have no option but to try them.
“100 per cent. So, you look at it, and you go, who are the dangerous bowlers? Most of the time, it’s [Jasprit] Bumrah. But, that day, you make a call and go, I can climb over someone here today; The sixth bowling option is coming, and it is going to bowl us wide yorkers. they can line up on that [Dube] Up,” Faf du Plessis told ESPN Cricinfo.
“You have options. But, there will be challenges on a flat pitch” – Anil Kumble
Indian legend Anil Kumble partially agreed and disagreed with Faf du Plessis’s statement. He was happy to see that Suryakumar has kept his options open and is testing almost every batsman in the team with the ball in one match or the other; However, he also acknowledged that this could be costly on flat pitches.
“They did all the right things to bowl a bit to the batsmen from the last T20 World Cup till now. If you look at the 18 months where they have won [almost] In every single game, he made sure that Tilak Verma got the bowling, Abhishek Sharma got the bowling, Dubey got the bowling, then Rinku Singh and Suryakumar Yadav also got the bowling. In that sense, you have options. But, there will be challenges on a flat pitch,” Kumble said.
However, he contradicted Faf du Plessis on the Dubey issue, claiming that India would still like to go with eight batsmen and five bowlers, as batting consistency is their biggest concern.
Shivam Dubey’s T20 World Cup stats in 2026
Shivam Dubey came into the World Cup as one of India’s most promising options with the ball, especially during the middle overs. After some notable success in the Asia Cup and the T20 series in between, Dubey has tried to make himself a better bowler and has also tried many variations.
However, the lanky seam-bowling all-rounder from Mumbai has compromised on the basics in an attempt to produce extraordinary efforts and all opponents have taken him for runs. So far in this World Cup, he has bowled 9.2 overs in 4 innings and taken 5 wickets at an excellent average of 24.80 and economy of 13.28.
His best bowling performance came against the Netherlands, where he took 2 for 35 in his three overs; However, in the last two matches he has given away 78 runs in his four overs and taken 2 wickets overall.
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