Srinagar: Former India cricketer and coach Ravi Shastri has picked up two youngsters from Team India to be watched out for during T20 World Cup 2024 in USA and West Indies.
Ravi Shastri instead of going for big shorts like Virat Kohli or Rohit Dharma opted to pick two left-handed batters who are all set to make a debut in a multi-nation ICC tournament for India – Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shivam Dube.
“The two gentlemen you’ve got to watch out for, and both are left-handers, both playing their first World Cup,” Shastri told ICC. “One is [Yashasvi] Jaiswal. We know a lot about him, he did extremely well against England, explosive at the top of the order, left-hander, he’s young, he’s fearless and he’ll play shots.”
The other player that Shastri picked is Chennai Super Kings star Dube, who cracked 26 sixes in just 11 matches in the ongoing IPL 2024 season.
“But there’s someone in the middle order, please watch out for [him], because he is explosive, he’s devastating and he’s a match-winner. He hits sixes for fun, and when it comes to spin bowling, he can kill you,” Shastri said. “He’ll park a few balls out of Long Island into the small island, he’s that kind of a player. He hits it big, he hits it long, and like I said, against spin, he could kill you”.
“Even against the fast bowlers, he’s worked out his game, he’s understood the way to play and I think he holds the key at that number five, number six position because if you’re on the doldrums, you want someone to change it in 20-25 balls, he’s the player to go to.”
Dube has struck at a rate of 170.73 in this ongoing IPL season, while scoring a boundary in almost four deliveries.
“His strike rate, which will be close to 200 most of the time, will help India immensely in going forward, getting those 190s, 200s that are needed in big competitions, especially like the [T20] World Cup. So enjoy it, watch out for this left-hander — he’s big, he’s strapping, and he hits a long ball.”