‘One name India should've considered for Asia Cup…': Gambhir picks Hardik's backup, ex-chief selector rejects it

After the return of Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah, India's Asia Cup squad appears to be a formidable one. As captain Rohit Sharma said that if all of them are available for selection for the Asia Cup 2023 opener against Pakistan on September 2 then this will be the first instance of India fielding their full-strength side in a major tournament in the last couple of years. India missed a few of their first-XI regulars in the last Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup in Australia.

Shivam Dube plays against Ireland

If one had to be really sceptical, which is not rare while dissecting a side like India, then the absence of an extra specialist spinner from the 17-member Indian squad for the continental tournament can be picked up as the only possible weaker area. Kuldeep Yadav is the lone specialist spinner and also the only wrist spinner in India's Asia Cup squad laden with fast bowlers. The only other spin-bowling options are all-rounders Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja. Considering that the tournament is taking place in Sri Lanka, it does appear that the Indian side is thin in the spin department.

Former India opener Gautam Gambhir believes there is another area where the team management should look into and that is backup of seam-bowling all-rounder Hardik Pandya. Shardul Thakur is the closest to Pandya's attributes but Gambhir said the Mumbai medium pacer cannot be termed as backup of a quality al-rounder like Pandya.

The former left-hander said Shivam Dube is "one name" that the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee should have considered for the Asia Cup. "One name they (the select should have definitely considered is Shivam Dube because of the kind of form he is in. You need a backup for Hardik Pandya. Shardul Thakur can't be that. Shardul Thakur cannot be Hardik’s backup," Gambhir said on Star Sports.

Dube is currently in Ireland as part of the India T20I side. The lanky Mumbai all-rounder did not get to bat in the series opener and bowled only one over but he produced a good all-round show in India's resounding 33-run win in the second match. Dube scored 22 off 16 balls with two sixes and then backed it up with a couple of decent overs with the ball.

Dube is making a comeback to the Indian side after three years. The left-handed batter and right-arm medium pacer played 13 T20Is and an ODI between 2019 and 2020 when Hardik was injured and India were looking for seam-bowling all-rounder. He did score an impressive half-century against the West Indies but failed to do enough to be considered Hardik's backup.

Dube got a second life after being picked up by Chennai Super Kings. The 30-year-old scored 289 runs at a strike rate of 156 in his debut season with CSK in IPL 2022 and backed that up with his best season in the IPL this year by notching up 418 runs in 16 matches at a strike rate of 158.

Sunil Joshi disagrees with Gambhir's Shivam Dube option as Hardik's backup

Former India chairman of selectors, Sunil Joshi, however, disagreed with Gambhir. The former left-arm spinner said Dube needs to improve a lot in bowling and fielding in order to be considered a full-fledged all-rounder.

"No, I don't think so. We have seen Shivam Dube. He would've been scoring in T20s but this is entirely format and a different tournament. With due respect to Gautam, this is my view. Shivam Dube has struggled with the ball and also in the field," he said.

Gambhir said India could have gone in with an extra spinner as their bowling appears to be one-dimensional.

“It’s a decent squad, according to me a nice squad is picked, but somewhere a wrist spinner is needed. It’s a seam-heavy squad and I believe either Ravi Bishnoi or Yuzvendra Chahal should have been picked because of conditions, when you are playing in India it’s important to keep two wrist spinners in the squad. Somewhere it’s a one-dimensional attack, two left-arm spinners, one wrist spinner and other pacers, it’s a seam-heavy attack (four-seamers). I think it’s a place where they could do better if they have selected one out of either leg-spinner. I believe you could give a break to Mohammad Shami and the form in which Prasidh Krishna is, you could pick a wrist spinner," he added.