Saurabh Somani
Here’s a riddle: In IPL 2024, for games featuring Chennai Super Kings, what is unique to their opening match against Royal Challengers Bangalore, on March 22? If this was a clickbaity slide, we’d say “the answer will shock you”. In truth though, the answer could certainly surprise you. That was the only match in which Shivam Dube didn’t come out to bat as soon as a wicket fell after the powerplay.
If that sounds mundane, consider that CSK have played 11 games since then. They’ve batted first, chased, had good starts, poor starts. They’ve played on a variety of pitches. And yet, not once – not once – has Dube been sent out in the powerplay. And not once has he been held back if a wicket fell after the powerplay was done. The most telling example came in their most recent game, against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on May 10. Dube batted at No.6, the lowest he’s batted all season. Why? Because when the third wicket fell, CSK’s innings was only 2.5 overs old.
From almost the start of the IPL, CSK have been the franchise that believes in stability more than any other. They always retain the maximum number of players they can, and try to buy back the rest. It’s always more difficult to get into the CSK playing XI than get out of it. No team backs its players through failures like CSK does. It’s not surprising then, that they have managed to find something resembling stability even in the most volatile facet of modern T20s: the batting order. Apart from the openers, most teams recognise that batting orders are fluid, even chaotic. But when you have a Shivam Dube on your hands, it pays to find the equilibrium in the chaos. Dube has normally come out at Nos. 4 and 5 this IPL, because CSK have always lost an early wicket or two. The one time the openers batted through the powerplay, at home against Punjab Kings, he came out at No.3.
As can be seen, the run-rate or the health of the innings doesn’t matter. CSK have identified that they have a man who can destroy attacks, and they have used him to his most devastating effect.
Dube was always a prolific six-hitter in domestic cricket for Mumbai. Back in 2019, he hit 118 off 67 balls against Karnataka in a List A game at the Chinnaswamy, with several of his ten sixes resulting in balls being lost. When he was practicing at the NCA a few days later, an official joked that Dube still owed the local association some money, for the balls they had to replace. Even back then, Dube was practising range-hitting, and had made IPL scouts and selectors take notice of his ability. He was duly picked up in the IPL auction, but his first three years – with RCB and Rajasthan Royals – didn’t yield great returns. His role didn’t seem fixed, and his bowling was not used much. In the 2022 mega-auction, Dube went to CSK, and from then onwards, he was a player transformed.
At CSK, Dube didn’t just get the license to unleash, he was given the platform to do so. From the time they got him, they identified his unique ability to take spinners down. That is why they sent him in the middle overs to wreck devastation. From 2019 to 2021, Dube scored 399 runs in the IPL, at 22 and 121. From 2022 onwards, he has 1078 runs at 36 and 162. The raw numbers are stark by themselves. The True Averages and True Strike Rates, when shown together, tell a compelling story of their own.
Sometimes pictures do tell a thousand words. In the 2019-2021 period, Dube was well below par in how many runs he scored and how fast he scored them. From 2022 onwards, it’s almost a mirror image. He has leaped from the worst quadrant to the best one.
That the upsurge has continued in 2024 is also a story in itself. This was the IPL that was supposed to bring Dube back to mortal levels. Bowlers had been empowered with an extra bouncer, making two for the over. Speed and bounce were supposed to be Dube’s kryptonite. Instead, he’s been smashing the ball as if the two-bouncer rule feeds into his strength.
“I think he’s fantastic,” CSK coach Stephen Fleming said during IPL 2024. “He’s proven this year that there’s a lot more to him than just hitting spin. He has real power.
“He’s a lot more complete in terms of what he’s trying to do and understanding his game, and that comes from experience. We’ve benefitted from him working hard on the areas that he wasn’t so strong, but also continuing to develop his strength which is the ability to hit the ball long, and quite regularly.”
Batting coach Michael Hussey said all of Dube’s practice session were geared towards anticipating what teams were going to throw at him.
“We’re trying to stay ahead of the game as much as we can with his training,” Hussey said. “Obviously, teams know he’s so lethal against spin so they are not bowling much spin. More fast bowling. But they’re also trying different things. Initially they tried bowling short balls to him, he came up with a plan to counter that. Then they started trying to bowl slow and wide, and he’s countering that as well. The great thing about Dube – because he’s got enormous power – whatever they throw at him, if they just miss, then it goes for six!”
Dube has allied cricket smarts to his prodigious gifts, and became even more of a weapon for his team.
All of Dube’s True Stats are only updated till CSK’s previous game, against Punjab at Dharamsala on May 5. He got a second successive first-ball duck in that match, and yet his batting has been off the charts for the season. He has scored 50 runs more than expected from a batter who faced the same distribution of overs, and his strike rate of 171 is light years ahead of his expected figure (146). Imagine how much his already stunning numbers would have been better, just two games ago.
Dube has repaid the faith CSK showed in him and then some. It’s led to a spot in India’s T20 World Cup side for him too. What combination India go with eventually for their playing XI remains to be seen, but an XI that has Dube in it will be much more feared than one that does not. He was always a demolisher of spin. This IPL he’s been annihilating pace too. In day games and on pitches that could be slow in the Caribbean and USA, India would be well served by having Dube’s power, ready to unleash.
Stats by Varun Alvakonda (updated till May 8, 2024)
