Shivam Dube admitted to having sleepless nights in the lead up to the announcement of India’s T20 World Cup squad. The 15-man list, made public on Tuesday (April 30), saw the 30-year-old receive a maiden call-up to a marquee world event. It continued his phenomenal rise over the last 14 months in the shortest format bookended by two spectacular IPL seasons for the Chennai Super Kings.
Dube’s signing by CSK for a sum of INR 4 crores was seen as something of a gamble but it’s an investment that has already landed the franchise one championship after the management repurposed the Mumbai all-rounder into a spin-hitter in the middle overs. Dube cleared the ropes 35 times in CSK’s title-winning IPL 2023 season, striking at a rate of 176.47 against spin.
Subsequent progress has been made in the ongoing season, where perceived weakness against fast and short-pitched bowling have been negated. Dube has hit the 165 balls he’s faced so far from fast bowlers for 284 runs at a strike-rate of 172.12. Between the two seasons, he was called up to the India T20I squad, where he hit back-to-back half-centuries against Afghanistan and emerged as the player of the tournament.
“When I came for the Afghanistan series, Rohit bhai told me ‘bowling bhi daalega, batting bhi milega tere ko (You’ll bowl and get to bat as well). You just have to show what you are capable of,” Dube said in a chat with bcci.tv. “So that is what I was focussing on, because if the captain tells you that they want to see you perform, it motivates you. When I was playing, all I was thinking about was how I could perform better and help my team.”
While the Impact Player rule has rendered Dube’s bowling surplus to CSK’s requirements, he did roll his arm over against Afghanistan and picked up two wickets from seven overs of bowling. With the rest of India’s top-order uni-dimensional, Dube’s bowling offers a point of difference although that side of his game remains fairly untested going into the World Cup.
There are, however, no doubts over his big-hitting abilities. It is a quality that CSK helped him hone. “When I came into the CSK setup, Mahi [MS Dhoni] bhai and [Stephen] Fleming told me that you have to hit. But they’ve never said it has to be from the first ball. Even they know doing that can be risky. It was at the back of my mind that if they trust in me, why should I take undue risks in my first 10 balls?
“Mentally, I prepared myself to know what my approach should be if a bowler bowls a particular ball. It took some time, but I’m set now. I watch the ball really well, and as it hits the bat, I get the feel that it’ll go for six and go long. Special thanks to CSK. They brought me up and it has worked for me.”
Dube’s batting, particularly his six-hitting, has drawn comparisons with India white-ball legend Yuvraj Singh from some quarters. He laughed quietly at the suggestion but hoped to marry the big-hitting prowess with consistency as the former World Cup winner had done. “It feels nice when people compare my batting to his. If I can also perform like him, it’ll be nice. When I came into the Indian team, Ravi [Shastri, then head coach] bhai told me ‘you hit sixes like Yuvraj Singh.’
“I’ve learnt watching him that even if he wouldn’t hit off the first seven-eight balls, he made up towards the end. I’ve learnt that and prepared mentally for it too. If people think I can [hit like him], maybe I really can. Why not? It’s important to apply the right things at the right time.”
