Why Shivam Dube batter before Suryakumar vs England and Tilak Varma was dropped to No 7 in semi-final

There were plenty of interesting calls made by captain Suryakumar Yadav during India’s nervy seven-run victory over England in the second T20 World Cup semi-final in Mumbai on Thursday. The most prominent among them was the decision to bowl Jasprit Bumrah out in the 16th and the 18th overs of the English chase, in which the star pacer rekindled India’s hopes by conceding just 14 runs through some exceptional bowling.

Surya had also picked seam-bowling all-rounder Shivam Dube for the final over, in which England were left needing 30 to win, instead of spin-bowling all-rounder Axar Patel. Dube ended up sealing India’s triumph by nailing his yorkers in the first three deliveries, conceding just three singles and indirectly causing centurion Jacob Bethell to get run-out on 105.

The 20th over, incidentally, wasn’t the only interesting decision involving Dube. The Chennai Super Kings all-rounder, after all, had walked in at No 4 on Thursday, batting ahead of captain Suryakumar Yadav as well as Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma.

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A core trait of the Surya-led Indian T20I team has been the flexibility of its batting order, with individuals ready to walk out at any given moment depending on the match situation, regardless of their usual position. And while Dube is accustomed to batting at No 5 or No 6, he walked in at No 4 – a position where ‘SKY’ has batted for a majority of his T20I career.

The logic behind the move was a simple one – maintaining the left-right combination at the centre in order to make field placements that much more difficult for the opposition.

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Shivam Dube nullifies the Adil Rashid threat

India could have also sent Tilak, another left-hander, out to the centre to join Sanju Samson, who had capitalised on an early reprieve to bring up his second consecutive half-century. Dube’s superior ability to handle spin, however, made him the ideal candidate for the situation.

Senior leg-spinner Adil Rashid, after all, had dismissed Ishan Kishan at the halfway stage, and had another couple of overs left in his quota. Samson was going all guns blazing at that point, but needed support at the other end to try and lay the foundation for a 250-plus score.

And if Rashid was able to keep the Indian batters quiet in his remaining overs, it could have cost India 10-15 runs on the longer run, which in hindsight could have cost them a place in the final. Instead, Samson barely had to face the veteran leg-spinner, with Dube nullifying the Rashid threat by smashing three sixes in a space of seven deliveries, tonking a couple of them down the ground.

Though he dismissed Surya in his final over, right after getting struck for a six over deep square leg by the Indian skipper, Rashid proved to be expensive in the end as he signed off with figures of 2/41. Dube, meanwhile, would go on to hammer 43 off 25 deliveries, missing out on a well-deserved half-century after getting involved in a mix-up with Pandya.