Shivam Dube is a spin master. He, CSK, and all nine other teams are aware of it, as are their fielders, who are constantly circling the boundary, inches from it, in hopes of a mishit. It was also evident to GT’s left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore, who was unable to avoid Dube’s broad hitting arc on the first two balls he bowled to the CSK hitter.
In the one-on-one match that saw Dube move to the middle, Sai Kishore came in a distant second, but Rashid Khan—possibly the best spinner in the format—also finished in second place. Shubman Gill had to use cunning when bowling to keep the spin-biffer alive because of Dube’s boisterous arrival. He had faith that his most seasoned spinner would fight through adversity and prevail, but on Tuesday night, that was not the case. Rashid, a cunning spinner, hit his opening ball to Dube at a speed of 99.9 kmph, drawing back his length to avoid being within the big reach of the 6’4″ tall hitter. He attempted a bluff in the same over, going full and loopy from around the stumps, and was despatched over long-on to the stands.
Last season, CSK was able to make the most of Dube’s highly unique and possibly limited skill set as he struck spin at a strike rate of 176.46, 18.14 more than his total statistic. He also brought with him the baggage of a weakness, which is his inability to keep up with bowlers who pound the deck and cause the ball to rise quickly towards him. By bowling short-pitched deliveries, Mohammed Shami and Hardik Pandya helped GT neutralize his danger around this time last year. On Tuesday, however, the opponent they faced had raised his game.
“You go back to maybe a year or two ago. He would either defend or duck out of the way when teams came to bowl the short ball. It was all he had until he entered and set himself up, at which point he played a few shots against it. The bowlers are still attacking him with the same strategy now, but he can score off of it and find boundaries if he places himself in the proper spots, according to Michael Hussey, the batting coach for CSK.
“Dube deserves a great deal of credit from me. He vanished and put in endless hours working against the short ball on his own time. not [just] in this moment of time. He puts a lot of effort into it here as well, getting the throwers (throwdown specialists) to pass him a lot of short passes,” Hussey continued.
Gill’s go-to weapon against Dube’s alleged vulnerability was the left-arm quick Spencer Johnson, who often ran in the mid 130s. However, in the fifteenth over, Dube drew him up, spotted the short balls coming from a mile away, and pulled him for a six. Mohit Sharma pounded the deck harder and tried more back-of-the-hand shots, which also flew into the bleachers, when he came at Dube. Dube performed admirably, never being trapped at the crease against pace as he had in the past.
Just six balls, including the wicket ball, of the 23 that Dube faced to score 51 came from spinners. Although GT’s evidence-based planning was sound, the improved batter disproved it. Playing just three dot balls against quick bowlers, Dube faced 17 deliveries and made 31 runs off of them.
“He’s realized that he needs to get better at short ball, which is an area where teams would target him. So, he’s put in many hours of dedicated practice. Bravo for the manner he’s performing. He is now playing with assurance. As we saw tonight, he’s also just as deadly against spin as ever,” Hussey remarked.
With his skill set and the job clarity that his third IPL club since 2019 has given him, Dube made it quite evident last season that bowling spin to him was suicide. He has already shown in two games this time around that it is pointless to constantly bombard him with short, fast balls.
