Shivam Dube has not played a single match on India’s ongoing tour of New Zealand. The 33-year-old all-rounder has stayed on the bench for all three T20Is till now, while India opted for Nitish Kumar Reddy and Naman Dhir. India lead 2-0 before the third match in Wellington on Tuesday, October 27.
After filling up the back-up all-rounder’s role at the 2026 T20 World Cup, Dube is seeing that role shared, and the two men sharing it are delivering. Add to the fact that India’s premier all-rounder Hardik Pandya is charting a comeback from injury.
Here are 3 reasons why Shivam Dube’s T20I career might be at a crossroads:
1. Nitish Reddy & Naman Dhir have taken over the job Shivam Dube used to do
Naman Dhir made 42 not out from 15 deliveries in the first T20I and a 17-ball 31 in the second. Nitish Kumar Reddy, at No. 8, made 26 not out from 13 balls as India came back from 112 for six to chase down 181 with a ball to spare in the second T20I. Their combined bowling figures in that game were 4-0-38-1, and they scored 57 runs in 30 balls.
Dhir also bowls off-spin, which gives Shreyas Iyer a sixth option. The India captain called him “a comprehensive player” at the end of the game.
Former India batter Subramaniam Badrinath, speaking on his YouTube channel, set out the gap plainly.
“I won’t say it’s the end of the road for him, considering the possibilities of injuries to others. But it’ll be very difficult for him to break into the playing 11 again. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Naman Dhir are fitting into the same category very well. They bowl, bat, and are excellent fielders. These two are multidimensional, especially with their fielding.”
2. Shivam Dube’s bowling is a two-over option, and India now want more
Against the West Indies, Dube bowled two overs in his only outing with the ball, taking 2/20 at Ranchi, and made 7 from 10 balls in a total of 249/5, his only innings of the series. India’s all-rounder slot now asks for more. Cricinfo notes that nine of the 19 balls Reddy has bowled in T20I death overs have come on the New Zealand tour, for 15 runs.
Badrinath was blunt about Dube’s future.
“Meanwhile, Dube is somewhat single-dimensional. He can smash spinners and give two overs of bowling. And fielding is terrible. Fielding and fitness is where Dube takes a hit. So it’s going to be hard for him to return to the 11.”
3. The chances are getting rarer, and the selectors are backing youth
Shivam Dube was left out of the third and fourth T20Is against the West Indies, with Reddy taking his place, and returned only for the fifth in Bengaluru because Reddy was ill. Rain cut that match to 7.4 overs, the series ended 2-2, and Dube had no chance to make his case.
Dube then lost his place in New Zealand. Naman Dhir is 26, Reddy and Tilak Varma are 23, while Dube turned 33 in June.
Form is not the problem. Dube made 65 from 23 balls, including a 15-ball fifty – the third-fastest T20I fifty by an Indian- in the fourth T20I against New Zealand in January. Since 2024, he has scored 770 runs in 44 T20Is at a strike rate of 154.61, with five fifties and 48 sixes.
Badrinath was just as clear about what Dhir offers.
“His (Naman Dhir’s) knock was underrated in the second T20I. It came when the situation was tough. Even Tilak Varma acknowledged it after the game. And he bowls off-spin as well.”
His verdict is conditional rather than final: a two-time T20 World Cup winner is waiting on someone else’s absence. India’s selectors, though, have two younger all-rounders doing the same job, and both are bowling, batting, and fielding their way further ahead.
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Edited by Srinjoy
