Daniel Vettori backs SRH’s Harsh Dubey to become a successful all-rounder

Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori heaped praise on left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey and backed the youngster to evolve into a successful all-rounder in the future.

Having gone unsold at the IPL mega auction earlier this year, Dubey—a breakout star in Vidarbha’s Ranji Trophy-winning campaign—was eventually signed by SRH as an injury replacement.

He went on to feature in the last three games of the season, all of which SRH won, finishing sixth on the points table with 13 points.

“Look, I think we’re very pleased with what he’s done since he’s come into the team,” the legendary Kiwi left-arm spinner said of Dubey, who finished the season with five wickets from three innings at an average of 19.60.

“He’s obviously a very clever bowler, understands conditions well, understands how he needs to bowl and can mix it up, and I suppose we were desperate for that little bit of control and he’s been able to do that in all three games that he’s played so far.” “The great thing for him is between now and the next IPL (is that) he’s going to play a lot of cricket, whether it’s for India A or his domestic team, there’s going to be a huge amount of opportunities for him.” “So we believe he can grow as a bowler and also as a batter, because the batting part of it was a big part of our decision-making too,” Vettori added.

Dubey was signed by SRH as a replacement for Ravichandran Smaran and made his debut against Lucknow Super Giants, picking up 1/44.

In the following match against Royal Challengers Bangalore, he dismissed Virat Kohli just seven runs short of a fifty with a delivery that bounced more than expected, deceiving the Indian batting star.

But it was in the final league match of the season, against Kolkata Knight Riders, that Dubey delivered his best performance.

He claimed the key wickets of Rinku Singh, Andre Russell and Ramandeep Singh as SRH bowled out KKR for 168 to seal a comprehensive 110-run victory.

The 22-year-old had made headlines in the previous domestic season, breaking the Ranji Trophy record for most wickets in a single edition with 69 scalps, surpassing Ashutosh Aman’s tally of 68 in 2018-19.

Dubey also had a successful run with the bat, scoring 476 runs in 10 matches with five half-centuries to prove his all-round credentials.

His consistent performances earned him a place in the India A squad for the upcoming tour of England, where they will play two first-class matches against the England Lions starting May 30.