Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir shed light on his bold decision to hand the new-ball duties to all-rounder Shivam Dube in the 2025 Asia Cup final against Pakistan at the Dubai International Stadium. With Hardik Pandya ruled out due to injury, the team management faced a tough call — either alter the playing XI or experiment with their bowling setup.
Instead of opting for a lineup change, India placed their faith in Dube to share the new ball with Jasprit Bumrah during the powerplay. Although Dube had bowled in short spells earlier in the tournament, he had not yet taken up the challenge of opening the bowling.
Rising to the occasion, Dube justified the management’s trust by delivering a composed and impactful spell to set the tone in the high-stakes clash. He finished with figures of 0 for 23 in three overs, including an impressive run of four consecutive dot balls at the start of his spell.
“Throw Them In The Deep Sea” – Gambhir On Testing Dube And Shubman Under Pressure
Gautam Gambhir explained that putting Shivam Dube in a high-pressure scenario, with the full support of the team management, helped bring out his best performance and allowed India to recover from a challenging situation.
“Just throw guys in the deep sea, as simple as it can get, we did the same thing with Shubman as well, when he was appointed Test captain for the England series. We had pushed him into the deep sea, and he came out as a proper professional swimmer.”
“The same was with Shivam as well. You got to put them under pressure, extreme pressure, and see how these guys react,” Gautam Gambhir said in an interview released by the BCCI.
“See what Shivam did. Imagine if he would not have been thrown in that deep sea, we would have never got to know what kind of chatacter, what kind of temperament he has when it comes to pressure situations. Imagine the amount of confidence he must have got after those two overs. He might have never got it in the past with the ball in hand,” Gambhir added.
Shivam Dube’s reputation as a bowler grew further during the recent T20I series against Australia, where he delivered a match-defining spell of 2 for 20. The all-rounder played a crucial role in India’s victory at the Carrara Oval in Gold Coast, claiming the key wickets of Mitchell Marsh and Tim Davidto turn the game in his team’s favour.
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