India, Sept. 2 -- There is a certain patience required to be Harsh Dubey. Not the passive kind, the sort that comes from waiting for an opportunity to arrive. His is of course a more active routine-bowl, bat, improve, repeat. Wherever he has played, Dubey has accumulated evidence that he belongs at the next level. And so as India begin another season with Manav Suthar firmly establishing himself behind Ravindra Jadeja in the pecking order for the left-arm spin allrounder slot, Dubey is performing like he has been doing for years.

The latest reminder came almost immediately. In the Duleep Trophy semi-final, playing for Central Zone against East Zone, where Dubey returned figures of 4 for 53 to make the final innings interesting, ending up...