‘Proud moment’ – Bruised Shivam Dube joyful after India’s series glory over New Zealand

India have had an impressive outing thus far in New Zealand. In the five-match T20I series, the Men in Blue won 5-0 and stamped their authority on the opposition. After winning the first couple of T20Is at the Eden Park in Auckland, the visiting team had to work out of their skins. On two occasions, first at the Seddon Park in Hamilton, followed by the Westpac Stadium in Wellington, India seemed to stutter.

However, stupendous last overs from Mohammed Shami and Shardul Thakur took the games into the Super Over. And both the times, the Men in Blue came out trumps. While the series could easily have been 2-2, India took a 4-0 lead. Even in the final T20I at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui, the Black Caps had every chance of going over the line, but Virat Kohli’s men again made a strong comeback.

In the meantime, Shivam Dube, the Indian all-rounder, expressed his delight after India turned up with a clean-sweep. The Mumbai cricketer uploaded a picture where Team India was posing with the winner’s trophy. The youngster captioned the picture and wrote, “And it’s a 5-0 sweep. What a splendid team performance. Proud moment.”

Here is Dube’s tweet

And it’s a 5-0 sweep. What a splendid team performance. Proud moment. #indvsNZ #T20series pic.twitter.com/cvp0UoiyJv

— Shivam Dube (@IamShivamDube) February 2, 2020

A rough outing for Shivam Dube

Dube didn’t have the best of outings thus far by any stretch of the imagination. The left-handed batsman got plenty of chances of show his mettle with the bat in hand, but he kept flattering to deceive. In five matches, Dube could manage only 40 runs at a rather dismal average of 10.25. The final T20I ended up rubbing slat in his wounds. He was entrusted to bat above the likes of Manish Pandey.

Dube hit one four and then fell prey to fast bowler Scott Kuggelejin. With the ball, he had a game scarier than a nightmare. He conceded as many as 34 runs in the only over he bowled. It turned out to be the second most expensive over in T20Is after Stuart Broad in the 2007 T20 World Cup in South Africa. The onslaught brought the required rate down to 6.50 and gave the Kiwis another chance to make a comeback.