The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is pondering over a potential senior contract for Shivam Dube and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who have been making their mark at the highest level lately. While Dube has emerged as a potential middle-order power-hitter with his explosive knocks against Afghanistan, Jaiswal has starred across Tests and T20Is at the international level.
Shivam Dube and Jaiswal, not too long ago, were a part of the Asian Games 2023 squad that won the gold medal in Hangzhou. Jaiswal became the youngest Indian to score a T20I century in that tournament and also scored a century on Test debut against West Indies.
The last 12 months have been a year of significant changes in Jaiswal, who had a terrific run with the bat for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL and took giant strides at the international level as well. The former U19 captain selectors see him as a future all-format star in the Indian setup and wish to reward him accordingly.
Shivam Dube's comeback and rise
Shivam Dube, on the other hand, has been a prominent name in the Indian domestic circuit for a few years. He starred for the Chennai Super Kings in their IPL-winning campaign last year and has been one of the best strikers in the shortest format. The Maharashtrian cricketer is also capable of producing some good overs of medium pace, making him a viable replacement option for the injury-prone Hardik Pandya.
It is also being said that skipper Rohit Sharma wants Dube to have as much match practice as possible, just in case Pandya doesn’t recover from his ongoing injury ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. If Dube can also produce a few overs regularly in the coming months, especially in IPL, he could be on his way to the USA regardless of Pandya’s injury status.
Both Jaiswal and Dube kick-started 2023 on a terrific note, notching some explosive knocks against Afghanistan in the first two T20Is. Both batters put on a terrific power-hitting show in the second T20I especially, which increases the number of options selectors have right now.
Besides these two players, Rinku Singh is another cricketer who has grown in stature in the last year and is on the verge of confirming a central contract. After a terrific season with the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL, Rinku made his debut against Ireland and went on to feature at the Asian Games 2023.
He went on to make his debut in ODIs as well and is being looked at as a potential star in the upcoming years in India’s limited-overs teams. He is nearly assured of a spot in the upcoming T20 World Cup as his finishing skills have made him a niche resource in the existing batting pool.
Although India will not feature in any international limited-overs cricket after this T20I series against Afghanistan, all eyes will be on IPL 2024, which will act as a preparatory for the highly-anticipated global tournament in the USA.
