Captain Suryakumar Yadav defended India’s decision to send middle-order batter Shivam Dube at number three against Bangladesh in Wednesday’s Super-Four clash of the 2025 Asia Cup Super-Four. Shivam Dube tried a couple of big hits but mistimed a loft against Rishad Hossain to get out for just 2 (3).
Suryakumar Yadav explained that the plan was to proactively counter Bangladesh’s spinners, including Hossain, and even though it didn’t work, they won’t shy away from trying it again if the opportunity arises. Shivam Dube came out to bat at No. 3 with Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma coming to bat after him. However, the team management decided to send Axar Patel to bat ahead of Samson during the final overs of India’s innings. However Sanju Samson did not get the chance to bat at all due to the shuffle.
Suryakumar Yadav defend’s the decision to send Shivam Dube up in the playing order
India captain Suryakumar Yadav faced questions over his team’s decisions in their Asia Cup Super 4s match against Bangladesh in Dubai on Wednesday, including and especially the decision to promote all-rounder Shivam Dube when the Men in Blue were yet to be guaranteed a place in the final.
Despite not bringing their ‘A’ game into the contest for the third match in a row, with Men in Blue suffering another batting collapse after a strong start and dropping several catches, Suryakumar Yadav and Co collected another comfortable victory to become the first team to qualify for the final.
The decision to Dube ahead of captain Suryakumar Yadav as well as other hard-hitting batters including Sanju Samson did come as a surprise, especially for cricketer-turned-commentator Sanjay Manjrekar along with a host of other experts as well as fans.
“We didn’t get to bat first in this tournament, I think we batted first against Oman but we wanted to bat first in the Super Fours and see how it goes,” Suryakumar Yadav said after the match, in which Bangladesh stand-in captain Jaker Ali opted to field.
“Looking at their bowling lineup, they had a left-arm spinner and a leg spinner, I think Dube was perfect for that occasion in that 7-15 overs range. But it didn’t work, that’s how things go,” he added.
Suryakumar Yadav also did not appear too concerned regarding India’s inability to breach the 180-mark despite the strong start, expressing faith in his bowling unit’s ability to win matches with “12-14 good overs”. Former Indian wicket keeper now expert Dinesh Karthik has supported Suryakumar Yadav for his experiments stating that it is good considering ICC World Cup 2026 ahead .
Dinesh Karthik is in all support of Suryakumar Yadav and Team India’s batting experiment in the Asia Cup 2025
Former keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has backed India’s thought process of being extremely flexible in the batting order in T20Is. He opined that the Men in Blue are trying to make sure that maximum batters are ready to tackle different challenges that could come their way in the 2026 T20 World Cup.
India got the better of Bangladesh by 41 runs in their Asia Cup 2025 Super 4 match in Dubai on Wednesday, September 24. Sent into bat, they were held to 168-8. Their bowlers, however, shone again and knocked over Bangladesh for 127. The Men in Blue came in for some criticism after Shivam Dube was sent into bat at No. 3, a move that upset the rhythm of the batting side.
During a discussion on Cricbuzz, Karthik refused to be critical of India with regard to their unpredictable batting order. On the contrary, he termed the choice to be flexible in the batting department as a clever move. Explaining the logic behind Dube coming into bat at No. 3 and Tilak Varma and Axar Patel batting ahead of Sanju Samson, Karthik elaborated:
“Shivam Dube came in when Rishad Hossain was bowling, to take him down. Didn’t happen today. And then they sent Tilak Varma and Axar Patel because Nasum Ahmed had overs left. The fact is that they are making sure that they are matching up to whatever is being given to them. You want to use the flexibility, the experience in these kind of matches. You can’t suddenly do it in the World Cup.”
The former India keeper predicted that the team would continue shuffling the batting order in the build-up to the 2026 T20 World Cup and said:
“Very much so. That’s the advantage of having all-rounders. It’s not called experimentation; I’d use the word flexibility. They want to make sure that at certain points of game, depending on whom they are predicting to bowl, they are bringing a match up with the bat, saying, ‘we have this to counter your plans’.
“I feel it’s a very clever way to go about it. What you need is a group of experienced players, who understand and adapt according to where they are sent,” the 40-year-old added.
Sent into bat in the Asia Cup 2025 clash on Wednesday, India’s openers added 77 in 6.2 overs. Shivam Dube walked into bat after the stand was broken, but perished for two, caught in the deep off Rishad’s bowling.
Batting first, India got off to a comparatively slow start. However, once Abhishek Sharma got his eye in, he again took on the bowlers. The southpaw smashed 75 off 37 balls, with the aid of six fours and five sixes. He was looking good for a hundred when he was run out following a mix-up with Suryakumar Yadav. Hardik Pandya (38 off 29) guided India past the 165-mark.
With the ball, left-arm wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav starred again with 3-18, while Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakaravarthy picked up two wickets each.
With India already into the Finals on 28th September 2025, their match vs Sri Lanka on 26th should be another practice for Team India and it would still give India chance for another experimentation before the big Final against Pakistan or Bangladesh depending on their results in their match on 25th September which is a virtual semi final for both the teams.
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