Given his prolific run in the Indian Premier League (IPL) just before the ICC event, not many were expecting low scores from Virat Kohli, especially for three consecutive matches at the T20 World Cup. This led to understandable debates on whether it is a right decision to open with Kohli or not, but teammate Shivam Dube feels that will not take long for the batting legend to shut his critics up again.
Kohli scored 741 runs while opening the batting for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in IPL 2024 leading to India’s think-tank considering asking him to partner skipper Rohit Sharma at the top where he has batted in all of India’s three matches so far in this T20 World Cup.
However, until now, it has failed; although India have won all three matches played so far by them, Kohli is yet to make a double-figure score in this tournament.
He has scored only 1, 4 and 0 thus far with that duck against USA being only his second one in T20Is and first ever in a World Cup.
‘Who am I to talk about Kohli! If he hasn’t got runs in three games, he may well get three hundreds in the next three and there will be no more discussions,’ said allrounder Dube at a press conference. “We know how he plays and we understand what kind of player he is.”
Dube brought himself out of poor batting form when he remained unbeaten on 31 versus USA playing for Chennai Super Kings. In Group A matches against Ireland and Pakistan respectively during which India played their first two matches as a team, he had managed only three runs altogether.
“I was struggling with my form and focusing on my process…There’s never been any doubt within myself about my past achievements. See, these conditions don’t suit me as much as they did at CSK,” said Dube referring to the difficult batting conditions in New York’s Nassau County. “These conditions require a different approach, so I was batting differently today.”
Catching fire from T20I series with England, Dube returned to spinners of CSK during IPL middle overs and he did his job well; that helped him earn a call back for India into the T20 World Cup.
