After being ignored for Australia ODIs, star India all-rounder sends clear message to selectors with 62-ball hundred for Mumbai

India all-rounder Shivam Dube sent a message of intent to the selectors after he wasn't picked for the upcoming three-match series against Australia. He scored a fine century for Mumbai in a warm-up match against Maharashtra ahead of the Ranji Trophy. The all-rounder, who had been a key player for the Indian team during the recently-concluded Asia Cup, was picked in the squad for the five-match T20I series against the Baggy Greens, but was kept out of the one-day set-up.

Notably, Nitish Kumar Reddy was preferred over Dube when it comes the ODI series. He will be taking the place of the injured Hardik Pandya, who will remain absent from the tour and will continue his rehabilitation process.

Dube's explosive inning vs Maharashtra

Following the setback, Dube decided to make a statement and smacked a 62-ball hundred for Mumbai. He reached triple figures by smashing a boundary on Rajvardhan Hangargekar's first delivery of the 39th over. However, Dube failed to go any further and got dismissed on the very next delivery while trying to hit a big shot.

How many ODIs has Dube played so far?

Dube has so far only played a total of four ODIs for India, scoring 43 runs and picking up one wicket. His last appearance in the format came in August, 2024 in a match against Sri Lanka. On the other hand, he has now become an important part of the team's T20I set-up and has already played 41 matches in the format. 

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Dube will now be shifting his focus to the Australia T20I series which is set to commence from October 29. The left-hand batter had contributed well in both the batting and bowling departments in the Asia Cup and will bew hoping to continue doing the same in the upcoming assignment. He has scored 581 runs and has taken 18 wickets so far in his T20I career and will be looking to increase his tally when he comes up against the Aussies.

India's squad for Australia T20Is: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (VC), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.