Sunil Gavaskar expects Shivam Dubey to land up with an IPL team

Mumbai, who have won Ranji Trophy a record 41 times, have not had an ideal start in the 2018-19 season. They have played three games so far and drew one while losing to Gujarat by 9 wickets in the third one. However, one player in the Mumbai team has stood out despite his team’s ordinary show and he is all-rounder Shivam Dubey, who is just a year old in first-class cricket.

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar even feels that the young all-rounder has all the potential to catch the radar of an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise. The 25-year-old left-hand batsman and right-arm medium pacer has slammed 364 runs in five innings in Ranji this year at a staggering average of 91 and also took 12 wickets at an average of 16-plus.

Dubey is having a dream run in Ranji this year

He has scored two hundreds – against Railways and Gujarat – and picked a 7-for against Karnataka. His all-round show of scoring a ton and half-century and taking four wickets against Gujarat caught many eyes though Mumbai were thumped in the game.

“One player who will definitely be on the radar of the scouts of the franchises, as well as the national selectors, is Shivam Dubey. Not since Yuvraj Singh and Sourav Ganguly has a left-hander hit the ball so cleanly and powerfully in Indian cricket,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day recently.

“That he is also a medium pacer is a huge plus and more than the franchises, the national selectors should be sitting and taking notice of this talent. He has scored two Ranji hundreds and also picked a fifer which is more than some who are considered indispensable to the Indian team have done,” Gavaskar added.

The fact that Dubey’s high performances came days ahead of the IPL 2019 auction improves his chances of making the cut all the more. The auction will take place in Jaipur on December 18, it was confirmed on Monday. The franchises have already revealed names of players they have released and retained before going to the auction.

The 2019 edition of the IPL will be held between March and May because of the ICC World Cup which kicks off on May 30.

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