167 wasnt a low score on big ground at Carrara, says Dube
"167 on this ground is definitely a good score because the quality bowling we have, the spinners, the fast bowlers...I trust them and the whole team trust our bowlers," Dube said
New Delhi: What seemed a moderate total initially turned out to be a decent score to defend in the big ground of Carrara and India all-rounder Shivam DUbe said they knew it would be enough.
India defended a 168-run target to win by 48 runs to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match T20I series in Australia.
"167 on this ground is definitely a good score because the quality bowling we have, the spinners, the fast bowlers...I trust them and the whole team trust our bowlers," Dube said after their win.
"Definitely it's a T20 game and any of the batter can come and smack but on this ground where the side boundaries are big, we had planned it very nicely and we had confidence that we can stop them.
Batting at No.3 spot, Dube scoring 22 off 18 and then claimed 2/20 with the bowl, crediting head coach Gautam Gambhir and bowling coach Morne Morkel helped him to excute plans.
"When I got the chance I knew that I had to bowl, especially Morne, Gauti bhai and Surya prepared a good plan for me. Morne also helped me a lot. He gave some small, small tips which made my bowling better," he said.
'Use the sides'
Speaking about their plan while bowling, he said: "The plan was to bowl on the sides which have bigger boundaries because it is difficult to hit big, I think the boundaries were 80m plus.
"We knew it won't be easy to hit how much you may connect. Plan was to bowl smartly and when a batter is set, force him to hit on the bigger sides than small sides.
Dube was asked to bat at the number three position for the first time and in his first Australia tour he first tried to settle down by rotating the strike.
"In nets I practised a lot on how to deal with short balls because the bounce is more here as compared to India. It's my first tour but I am trying to get settle down as soon as possible," he said.
"Definitely that was an important phase because at that time scoring got slow and I knew (Adam) is going to bowl. I never took chances against fast bowlers because they were bowling in direction of side boundaries.
"The plan was to rotate strike against fast bowlers and attack the spinners when they come," Dube said.