Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube and Axar Patel!

[Ultimate_Game]

Sanju Samson and Bumrah were the MVPs of the recent WT20 and Pandya was the one who brought in balance, but these three (Ishan, Dube, Axar) were the ones who brought steel and clutchness to the team. Ishan showed up whenever needed and was a team player through and through. Reminded me a lot about Raina who used to score quick runs without worrying about his stats or getting dismissed.

 

Dube was the one on whom the team relied to make the push at the end or take down spinners who've been our achilles heels for a while. His takedown of Adil Rashid, our tormenter in LOIs for a while, was a thing of beauty and his onslaught at the end against NZ finished off the match. I never thought Dube would become the player he has become and IMO he's the best lower order hitter in the world. I would pick him over Miller or any English, Aussie or Kiwi lower or middle order hitter any day.

 

Axar is the one who's like Pandya and brings balance to the team. He's so versatile and extremely underrated. He can slot in at 5 as pinch hitter as he showed in 2024 WT20 and 2025 CT, he can come lower down the order and add batting depth, he can bowl in PP and pick wkts, he can bowl during the middle of the innings and pick wkts, and he's an amazing fielder as well with a breathtaking catch nearly every big match! He's a unique player who's actually much better than what people think he is. Normally, it's the other way round. And I still believe India beats SA if Axar "Bapu" Patel plays instead of Sundar. Axar is the player we all hoped Jadeja would be.

 

This is the reason why the 2026 WT20 team is better than the 2024 version coz of so many clutch players. We've 6-7 clutch players in the XI when usually teams struggle to find 1or 2 at max. All of Samson, Bumrah, Pandya, Ishan, Axar, Dube, Tilak (and to an extent Arshdeep) have shown they're clutch and show up when things are tough. That's why I would back someone who's temperamentally strong instead of being more talented (e.g., Gill).

[vvvslaxman]

Apart from minnow bashing SKY was the opposite of these three. Played ODI cricket in T20 at times

[Ultimate_Game]

On 3/13/2026 at 11:29 AM, vvvslaxman said:

Apart from minnow bashing SKY was the opposite of these three. Played ODI cricket in T20 at times

 

Historically we've seen we're good enough to carry one passenger. That's why we were winning Tests at home as well when either Rohit or Kohli sat out but when both played, it became too much to cover for two. That's why dropping Gill was the reason we turned it around else we would've struggled to even get to the semi finals. With Gill, we would've had two passengers in Gill and SKY which is one too many. But ideally I want to see SKY being asked to leave and him being replaced by Iyer and not Gill.

Edited March 14 by Ultimate_Game

[Lord]

Axar has been appreciated for his catches and spell in final

 

Kishan has been hailed for fasr starts especially v Pak

 

But Dube remains unsung hero again

[vvvslaxman]

2 hours ago, Lord said:

Axar has been appreciated for his catches and spell in final

 

Kishan has been hailed for fasr starts especially v Pak

 

But Dube remains unsung hero again

 

Dube probably does the hardest job out there. Without getting set he has to swing from hips something Pandya couldn't do consistently, Tilak couldn't do, SKY couldn't do. 

[Tillu]

Pandya, the T20i batsman is highly overrated. He Strikerate is 140 and played a match losing innings against West Indies and in the final.

[Suhaan]

1 minute ago, Tillu said:

Pandya, the T20i batsman is highly overrated. He Strikerate is 140 and played a match losing innings against West Indies and in the final.

But plays few quick innings/cameos in between without which score remains par

 

[Ultimate_Game]

8 minutes ago, Tillu said:

Pandya, the T20i batsman is highly overrated. He Strikerate is 140 and played a match losing innings against West Indies and in the final.

 

He does more than one can expect. Shows up with the ball, bat and in the field. A true all-rounder!

[Manucrick]

1 hour ago, Tillu said:

Pandya, the T20i batsman is highly overrated. He Strikerate is 140 and played a match losing innings against West Indies and in the final.

He is overrated

[neel roy]

WC 24 final india lagging: Dube smashes 27 of 15

 

Asia cup final : India stuttering. Dube comes and two sixes and a four .. game over 

Wc virtual qtr final against windies: two important fours.. game done

wc semi final: all other batsmen stalling against Rashid. Dube comed smashed him and scored 47 of 25 balls.. 

 

wc final 26: again india stuttering and dube comes and takes the score beyond 250

day after wc final 26 : Dube takes train and a berth in 3 tier ac compartment from ahmedabad and reaches Mumbai.. 

 

 no fuss…hats off

 

Edited March 14 by neel roy

[vvvslaxman]

3 hours ago, neel roy said:

WC 24 final india lagging: Dube smashes 27 of 15

 

Asia cup final : India stuttering. Dube comes and two sixes and a four .. game over 

Wc virtual qtr final against windies: two important fours.. game done

wc semi final: all other batsmen stalling against Rashid. Dube comed smashed him and scored 47 of 25 balls.. 

 

wc final 26: again india stuttering and dube comes and takes the score beyond 250

day after wc final 26 : Dube takes train and a berth in 3 tier ac compartment from ahmedabad and reaches Mumbai.. 

 

 no fuss…hats off

 

He was bowling well as well. These bozos messed up his rythm by asking him to bowl wide.

[BacktoCricaddict]

10 hours ago, Manucrick said:

He is overrated

True. 

 

Everybody thinks he is absolutely, undisputably, the best-est AR who adds tremendous balance to the team. 

But actually he is almost absolutely, minimally disputably the best AR who adds tremendous balance to the team.

 

 

[Ultimate_Game]

5 hours ago, neel roy said:

WC 24 final india lagging: Dube smashes 27 of 15

 

Asia cup final : India stuttering. Dube comes and two sixes and a four .. game over 

Wc virtual qtr final against windies: two important fours.. game done

wc semi final: all other batsmen stalling against Rashid. Dube comed smashed him and scored 47 of 25 balls.. 

 

wc final 26: again india stuttering and dube comes and takes the score beyond 250

day after wc final 26 : Dube takes train and a berth in 3 tier ac compartment from ahmedabad and reaches Mumbai.. 

 

 no fuss…hats off

 

 

That's why he's a Raina type of player and fits into this "team first" approach instead of the milestone obsessed one we had earlier. The team looks so good coz we've 2 Raina like players in him and Ishan! If a casual fan or someone in the future looks at stats they would wonder what the big deal was about Dube and thinking he was a marginal player coz he doesn't have stats like 50s and 100s. But Indian fans who've followed the team closely know the worth of his contributions.

 

His runs were worth their weight in gold and we don't win either 2024 WT20 or 2026 WT20 without his contributions. A true team player! I wasn't keen on him in the team in 2024 when he was brought in but he showed up nearly every time! That's why the team was undefeated (till the SA match IIRC) with Dube in the team as he and Axar brought in that incredible balance and team-first attitude.

Edited March 14 by Ultimate_Game

[Ultimate_Game]

1 hour ago, vvvslaxman said:

He was bowling well as well. These bozos messed up his rythm by asking him to bowl wide.

 

So true! He opened the bowling in Asia Cup and did a wonderful job! It was team management's weird tactics of him bowling wide and full outside the off which impacted his bowling. That level of accuracy over line & length is not easy for even the specialist bowlers which we saw in the final when even Matt Henry struggled with that approach conceding multiple wides and getting smashed. Expecting a part-timer to do it was crazy and reflects poorly on the team think-tank.

 

Hopefully Dube has time to decompress and go back to bowling the way he was and is comfortable doing. He doesn't need to overthink and focus on bowling the way he used to.

[Ultimate_Game]

10 hours ago, Manucrick said:

He is overrated

 

18 minutes ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

True. 

 

Everybody thinks he is absolutely, undisputably, the best-est AR who adds tremendous balance to the team. 

But actually he is almost absolutely, minimally disputably the best AR who adds tremendous balance to the team.

 

 

 

Pandya's the best LOI all-rounder in the world and I wouldn't replace him with anyone. He's the one who brings balance to the team and is the reason why we're 5-0 against Aussies in ICC tournies but lose to them without Pandya. And he's clutch and shows up when he's really needed as we saw in the 2022 WT20 SF as he was the only batter who showed up, 2024 WT20 Final where his final 2 overs were as important as Bumrah, if not more, or everytime he makes Pak his bi@tches! He's the first name on the team sheet alongside Bumrah and Axar.

[BacktoCricaddict]

3 minutes ago, Ultimate_Game said:

 

 

Pandya's the best LOI all-rounder in the world and I wouldn't replace him with anyone. He's the one who brings balance to the team and is the reason why we're 5-0 against Aussies in ICC tournies but lose to them without Pandya. And he's clutch and shows up when he's really needed as we saw in the 2022 WT20 SF as he was the only batter who showed up, 2024 WT20 Final where his final 2 overs were as important as Bumrah, if not more, or everytime he makes Pak his bi@tches! He's the first name on the team sheet alongside Bumrah and Axar.

I was just making the point that being over-rated and being amazingly good are not mutually exclusive. Many people associate "over-rated" with "bad." And that is not true.

 

If someone is an ATG, but people call him GOAT, then they are over-rating him. But he is still an ATG and that is commendable in intself.

 

I agree with your assessment that I wouldn't replace Pandya with anyone else in the world right now. 

[Ultimate_Game]

9 minutes ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

I was just making the point that being over-rated and being amazingly good are not mutually exclusive. Many people associate "over-rated" with "bad." And that is not true.

 

If someone is an ATG, but people call him GOAT, then they are over-rating him. But he is still an ATG and that is commendable in intself.

 

I agree with your assessment that I wouldn't replace Pandya with anyone else in the world right now. 

 

Not in this case though. If you're the leading all-rounder in world cricket, you can't really be overrated by definition. Now if someone like Faheem Ashraf, Marcus Stoinis and other similar so called all-rounders were hyped the same way Pandya is, that would be called over-rated. But Pandya has a stellar record right from his inaugural WT20 in 2016 where he bowled that last over against B'desh and defended 2 off 3 deliveries!

 

Pandya has plenty of moments where he showed up and made the difference and definitely not over-rated. He would make the India ATG team in LOIs alongside Kapil as all-rounders. People are turned off by his antics and attitude but on the field as a player he has delivered. He'll never be like Dravid or Tendulkar in terns of his attitude or the way he carries himself but you can't take anything away from his performances due to his attitude and lifestyle.

[tapandrun]

Apart from Axar the other 2 are not intnl material, but they did their job right. Think its more about their mentality than game itself.  

 

Axar frm outside was weak link of the bowling due to the factor he had no x-factor to his bowling, but he has improved alot specially bowling LAslow on falt pitches, he also bowled well to LH batters.

 

Kishan still lacks off-side game but he has improved on it a bit so that he does not get stuck and opp. can not build pressure and when ball is in his zone he made sure it was going for 4/6. In this wc he looked like a lite version of Pooran::- v.similar hitting zone and ability to hit 4s to where he can not hit 6s.

 

Dube fits in this combination where he is #7/8 batter and not much of batsmanship is required of him and where he can just come and club the ball. If some1 has power game that player can off-set alot of things. At no 6/7/8 or in t20s generally technique is not the only thing if some1 has power game and ability to hit4/6 that is more needed.

It may not look like but he has lot of brains, he does not hit any shot in anger does not try to over hit, knows his limitations vs pure pace and bouncer so he plays such balls to gaps looking for 1/2s and if there is no-one there may be a 4

 

 

 

[Ultimate_Game]

55 minutes ago, tapandrun said:

Apart from Axar the other 2 are not intnl material, but they did their job right. Think its more about their mentality than game itself.  

 

Axar frm outside was weak link of the bowling due to the factor he had no x-factor to his bowling, but he has improved alot specially bowling LAslow on falt pitches, he also bowled well to LH batters.

 

Kishan still lacks off-side game but he has improved on it a bit so that he does not get stuck and opp. can not build pressure and when ball is in his zone he made sure it was going for 4/6. In this wc he looked like a lite version of Pooran::- v.similar hitting zone and ability to hit 4s to where he can not hit 6s.

 

Dube fits in this combination where he is #7/8 batter and not much of batsmanship is required of him and where he can just come and club the ball. If some1 has power game that player can off-set alot of things. At no 6/7/8 or in t20s generally technique is not the only thing if some1 has power game and ability to hit4/6 that is more needed.

It may not look like but he has lot of brains, he does not hit any shot in anger does not try to over hit, knows his limitations vs pure pace and bouncer so he plays such balls to gaps looking for 1/2s and if there is no-one there may be a 4

 

 

 

 

Hard disagree! Both Ishan and Dube will walk into most of the intl teams. Aus had likes of Maxwell, Inglis, Renshaw, Cam Green as their batters. Ishan and Dube are better than all of them. I won't even talk about Pak, B'desh and SL as these two would be their main batters. Even SA, WI and NZ would love to have them as they don't have any batters who're either that clutch (SA, WI) or that explosive (NZ). Eng is the only team I can think of which has batting depth where these two may not get in but rest of the teams would love to have someone like these two.

 

Ishan has shown he has game awareness and skill to handle tough conditions as his Asia Cup knock in 2023 shows where he rescued India alongside Pandya on a tough wicket. And Dube has managed to come through so many times in tricky situations that it can't be luck or pure slogging. He knows his game and knows what needs to be done.

[AKane]

India needed 16 runs to win the effective QF vs the WI when Pandya got out on 18.2 balls to Shamari Joseph.

 

2 nerveless, cold-blooded fours hit by Dube in the next 3 balls followed by 2 leg byes on last ball reduced the target to 6 runs off of the last over.

 

That was so key - those 2 fours else the pressure in the last over if 10+ were needed would have been massive.