Asia Cup: Shivam Dube’s bowling revival – How Gautam Gambhir and Morne Morkel unlocked India’s all-rounder | Cricket News – The Times of India

Dubai: The IPL’s Impact Player rule has all however put Shivam Dube’s bowling arm in chilly storage throughout his stint with Chennai Super Kings, with the all-rounder managing a meagre three overs throughout three seasons — a statistic that might make even probably the most occasional half-timer wince. While Dube continues to bowl frequently for Mumbai in home cricket, his worldwide bowling credentials have been gathering mud on the sidelines. But winds of change are blowing by the Indian setup. Under the brand new regime of head coach Gautam Gambhir and T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav, Dube is lastly being unleashed as a real bowling weapon — marking a dramatic shift in how the group views his twin capabilities. That intent was on show towards UAE in Dubai on Wednesday, the place the 32-12 months-previous appeared sprightly, bowled with accuracy, and returned figures of 3 for 4 — his greatest in worldwide cricket since debuting in 2019. Dube stepped up as India’s sixth bowling possibility and, in keeping with the group administration, he’ll now be known as upon to bowl an over or two in just about each recreation. The early returns have been spectacular. Across his final three T20Is, Dube has despatched down 4 miserly overs, claimed 5 wickets, and maintained an financial system fee of beneath 4 — numbers any frontline bowler can be proud of. The architect behind this bowling renaissance? India’s bowling coach, Morne Morkel. “Morne has been working with me since I came back into the Indian team for the England series. He gave me specific advice, and I worked on it. He told me to bowl a line slightly outside off stump, helped me develop a slower delivery, and tweaked my run-up a bit. Because of those adjustments, my bowling has improved. My pace is up, and I’m getting good confidence in matches. The head coach and skipper told me my bowling would have a role to play,” Dube revealed after India’s 9-wicket win. Dube was requested whether or not the IPL’s influence participant rule hindered his progress as a bowler. He didn’t mince phrases. “The answer lies in your question itself. The role of an all-rounder has been reduced because of the rule. That’s why, in the IPL, there wasn’t a necessity for me to bowl. But from my side, I was always prepared — every match, I was ready to bowl,” he stated. It’s not solely his bowling that Dube is targeted on. He has been engaged on extending his vary as an influence-hitter. “For the last two months, I’ve worked a great deal on my fitness. With the bat, I know I have a role to play in the middle overs as a power-hitter. Over the years, bowlers have targeted me with short balls, so I’ve worked on increasing my range of shots,” he stated. Even although the UAE conflict wasn’t a great check forward of India’s recreation towards Pakistan, Dube insisted the group by no means considered it as only a heat-up. “Whenever we play for India, we don’t consider any match a warm-up. It’s a matter of pride to play for our country, so every game is important. As a team, it was really good that we played together after a long time,” he stated. As for comparisons with Hardik Pandya, Dube was fast to play them down. “Hardik is like a brother. He has a lot of experience in international cricket and the IPL. I try to learn as much as I can from him — both about batting and bowling. I’ve never thought about comparisons,” he stated.