Shivam Dube reveals MSK Prasad's message after his century against Karnataka in VHT 2019-20

Shivam Dube became a household name ever since hitting five sixes in five balls of an over during the T20 Mumbai League season 1. The left-handed batsman made such an impression with his hard and clean hitting, that even former India captain Sunil Gavaskar tipped him to be picked in the Indian team shortly.

The first step to fame for Dube was being picked in the Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL team for a massive INR 5 crore bid. Though he didn’t do much in the opportunity that he received during the tournament, he showed enough mettle to be picked for India A games on a regular basis. Gavaskar had said that he hadn’t seen a cleaner hitter since Yuvraj or Ganguly.

Dube says MSK Prasad’s encouraging words gave him a hint for future

“I did well in domestic tournaments and the ‘A’ series, so yes, I was expecting a call-up. MSK [Prasad] sir spoke to me after the match against Karnataka. He told me I am doing well and should keep up the good work. That was a huge boost. I was really happy that he appreciated my knock,” Dube was quoted as saying by Mid-Day. These words came after Dube slammed a quick-fire century against Karnataka in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Dube is the fourth Mumbai player included in the India T20I squad after captain Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer and Shardul Thakur. He has a strike rate of 142.35 in domestic T20 matches and 121.34 in domestic one-day games.

It seems that the MSK Prasad-led selection committee feels that Dube is a like for like replacement for the injured Hardik Pandya, who has undergone surgery for his troublesome back. The T20I series against Bangladesh begins on November 3 and will give Dube a chance to stake a claim for upcoming matches against West Indies and New Zealand.

Meanwhile, the chairman of selectors explained why Dube was chosen in the team and was quoted as saying by Asian Age, “In the T20Is, we had Hardik Pandya. Then we tried Vijay Shankar and we all felt that Shivam Dube fits perfectly for the role. He bats aggressively and his performances for India A against West Indies and South Africa were phenomenal.”

[interaction id=”5da081079235482ee8174547″]