Shivam Dube, part of India’s reserves for the 2025 Champions Trophy, starred with the ball during the ongoing Ranji Trophy semi-final between Mumbai and Vidarbha at Nagpur.
Dube got his first wicket on the opening day when he dismissed a set Vidarbha No.3 Parth Rekhade for a 64-ball 23. The wicket brought the end to a dangerous looking 54-run stand with Dhruv Shorey, who hit 74. Dube’s second victim was an in-form Karun Nair, who perished on the brink of his half-century for 45, leaving Vidarbha at 222-4.
A fighting 79 off 157 from Danish Malewar took Vidarbha to 308-5 at stumps on day one. Mumbai fought back by taking the remaining five wickets quickly, with Dube playing a starring role. The all-rounder picked up Harsh Dubey (18), Nachiket Bhute (11) and Yash Thakur (3) in his first three overs of the day, folding Vidarbha for 383 runs in the first innings.
Third first-class five-for for Shivam Dube
Dube finished with 5-49, his third five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. His best of 7-53 came against Karnataka in Belgavi in the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy season, which was nothing less than a fairytale for the all-rounder. He picked up 23 wickets at 23.21, becoming Mumbai's leading wicket-taker that season with six more scalps than the next-best, Tushar Deshpande. With 632 runs at an average of 52.67, he was also the team's second-highest run-getter, just 20 runs behind Siddhesh Lad.
Virat Kohli needs 37 more runs in his next 64 innings to become the fastest batter to 14,000 runs in the format 🔥
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) February 17, 2025
Read all the records he could break in the Champions Trophy ➡️ https://t.co/gCtLKjWM87 pic.twitter.com/UJMrjTSLiq
Dube is one of the reserves in India’s Champions Trophy 2025 squad alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal and Mohammed Siraj. His previous experiences in ICC tournaments include a successful campaign for India in the T20 World Cup last year. Having struggled with the bat for a major part of it, Dube contributed a vital 27 off 16 from No.6 to help India win the final.
He is not a regular when it comes to bowling in international cricket. But his recent form gives India a viable backup for Hardik Pandya in case there’s an injury concern.
