‘I know they are going to bowl short balls, and I’m ready for that’ – Shivam Dube talks about how he neutralises the speedsters’ venom

“I know they are going to bowl short balls and I’m ready for that,” Dube would say later. He faced six short balls on the night, and not once did he look rattled.

Short balls and bouncers were supposed to trouble Dube. Last IPL season as Dube went about smashing the spinners, opposition captains didn’t waste time in bringing on the pacers and testing him with short stuff.

With two bouncers allowed per over this IPL, Dube was among those batsmen whose comfort level against pacers was bound to be tested. Having looked clueless last season against short balls, he now has not one fall-back option but two. One where he is keeping the ball down by rolling his wrists, and another where he stands tall and uses his power to clear the fence, like he did against Johnson.

Dube’s long-time coach Satish Samant said that there was a technical flaw, which Dube corrected during the off-season. He also credited the player himself for being ready to work on eliminating his Achilles’ Heel.

“It was a technical issue as well as mental. At the time of the release of the ball, his shoulder used to be locked and at the same time, he was lifting his bat with the bottom hand. With that kind of technical flaw, he could play the short ball well against those who bowled at 120 kmph but against a 135 kmph bowler, his body was locked,” Samant said.

Dube used to face short balls for hours and the coach made him open his shoulder a bit.

“We used to start at 80mph and then slowly used to increase the speed to 85 mph. He began to connect with each ball. He had more control over his pull shot. By practicing daily, he removed that mental block. The best part of Dube is that he kept his ego aside. He sincerely wanted to work on the flaw,” Samant added.

Reward for hard work

CSK batting coach Mike Hussey said there is a world of difference between Dube from two years ago and Dube now.

“If you rewind one, maybe two, years ago, teams would come in and bowl short balls and Dube would either duck out of the way or defend,” Hussey said. “And that’s all he had until he got in… Then he could maybe play some shots against it. Now bowlers are still coming in with the same plan but he’s able to score off it as well. And he’s been able to find boundaries if he gets into the right position as well. So that’s testament to the work he’s put in behind the scenes….” Hussey said.

The Aussie was supposed to work with Dube during the pre-season to address this issue, especially with the new rule coming in. But a side-strain Dube picked up during the Ranji Trophy meant he joined the set-up only two days before the opening fixture. There were concerns in the Chennai ranks. But it was a case of much ado about nothing.

Since joining the franchise in 2022, Dube has been Chennai’s trump card with the bat, one who tactically opened up situations like nobody else. Having batted out of position at Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals, Chennai have used him at No 4 & 5 to take down spinners. For a batsman who had 22 sixes in his first three seasons, he hit 16 & 35 in 2022 and 2023 respectively. In two matches this season, he has already smashed half a dozen sixes.

It is this incredible six-hitting ability, especially in the middle overs when opposition teams look to slip in a few quiet overs with their spinners, that has made Dube a superhit among fans at Chepauk.

At the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday, when Virat Kohli hit Kagiso Rabada for a six, the noise levels recorded by the broadcaster hit 124 decibels. On Tuesday at Chepauk, it hit 127db as Dube made his entry after being restless in the dug-out as Rashid Khan and Sai Kishore were beginning to slow down the run rate. And when the left-arm spinner dismissed Rahane off the first ball of the 11th over, Dube wasted no time in walking out to the middle.

This was his favoured match-up. And he showed why. The first ball, hit with brutal power, sailed over long-on. For the next, Sai Kishore responded by going slower, and this time Dube went over mid-wicket.

Two overs later, Rashid wanted to have a go at Dube. His last two deliveries to him in the IPL final last year had seen the left-hander hitting two huge sixes. And here, after taking a single off the first delivery from Rashid, Dube picked the googly and deposited it over long-on, before Gujarat turned to Johnson. And Dube went about showing Chepauk why the moniker Aaru Saamy (six god) fits him perfectly.

(With inputs from Devendra Pandey)