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Follow UsMatch 7 of IPL 2024. Ravi Sai Kishore is in the middle of a good spell. He has just foxed Ajinkya Rahane in the air, elevating his figures to 2.1-0-13-1. Shivam Dube comes in to bat in the 11th over.
Sai Kishore continues with a standard left-arm orthodox spinner’s delivery from over the wicket to a left-handed batter - fuller in length and marginally outside the off stump. It’s a good starting delivery against most left-handers but too easy for Dube. He plants the front foot and clobbers the ball down the ground for a first-ball six.
Sai Kishore moves around the wicket. He keeps the same length and shifts the line from outside off to middle and leg. Too easy for Dube again. This time, he thumps it over deep mid-wicket. He is 12 off two balls. From 1/13 in 2.1 overs, Sai Kishore’s figures read 1/28 in three overs and he is done for the night, not called for his fourth with Dube batting till the 19th over.
Dismissing Rahane was Sai Kishore’s biggest moment of the night but in hindsight, he must have wished the wicket had come later in the over. Five balls against Dube is too many. Since joining Chennai Super Kings in 2022, the left-hander averages 46 against left-arm finger spinner at a strike rate of 184.
But it is not just Gujarat Titans, Sai Kishore or left-arm spinners, teams are hiding their slower bowlers against Dube. This season, he has faced only 12 balls of spin (22 runs) as compared to 56 balls of pace (81 runs).
However, it is not a viable option for every team. Delhi Capitals, in Match 13, could only make it possible by not playing their premier spinner Kuldeep Yadav, although it was said he had a niggle.
CSK send Shivam Dube as a spin hitter in the middle overs. It is the only phase of play for spinners to operate. The numbers above depict how he has aced every spin bowling type, barring the left-arm wrist spin which is still a rare commodity - only seven such bowlers in the 17 years of IPL.
The question arises: How to bowl to Dube?
A line view of the left-hander’s batting against spin tells you how small is the margin of error. Most deliveries outside the off stump will be smacked. Anything full in line with the stumps works but marginally fuller or shorter results in strike rates as towering as his 6’ 3 stature.
Let’s break it down to how NOT to bowl to him - outside off stump. His long levers allow him to reach the ball without moving his feet. So whatever is dished out on the fourth stump line can be taken apart into the leg-side or down the ground irrespective of the length. The slower pace of spinners helps the Mumbai-born to line them up.
However, the strike rate decreases as the ball is pitched further away from him. The sample size is low on wider outside the off stump as Dube opens the off-side there.
How TO bowl to him - full length on middle, leg, or outside leg stump, carrom ball, spin the ball away.
Dube’s strike rate plummets in a small region in the full-length area. The middle, leg and the outside leg stump line curb his long levers from coming into play. Because he doesn’t step out to alter the line and length, his scoring options are limited to nudging the ball around in gaps.
From the perspective of finger spinners, the carrom ball is a good option if the bowler in question can bowl it. Dube has scored only one run off seven carrom balls in the CSK yellow.
Sunil Narine, a veteran exponent of this delivery, has conceded only four runs off seven deliveries against Dube. On the contrary, Varun Chakravarthy, a bowler of similar style as Narine has gone for 28 off 13 balls to the southpaw with three sixes, owing to bowling in the wrong areas. Rajasthan Royals’ Ravichandran Ashwin can target Dube with carrom deliveries but surprisingly, he has hardly used it against the left-handed batters.
The wrist-spinners can use Dube’s scoring arc - between mid-wicket and long-off - against him. Be it a right-arm wrist-spinner or a left-arm variant, turn the ball away from him off the good length. The left-hander’s most prolific six-scoring strokes against spin are slog-sweep (seven sixes), pull (six sixes) and lofted straight hit (five sixes). The off-side has only two of his 30 sixes against spin since joining CSK. Balls turning away forces him to slog against the turn.
In terms of speed, the quicker, the better. However, the 90 kph+ deliveries only restrain his strike rate to a limited extent while going for more sixes.
Does pace work against Dube?
The left-hander’s game against pace is a work in progress. The average has improved every season and the strike rate in IPL 2024 stands at a decent 144.6.
Teams have targeted Dube with short balls. He has four dismissals in this region and averages 21.5. Consequently, in IPL 2024, pacers have pitched 38 out of 56 balls to him in the back-of-a-length and short-length region.
Overall, short balls have been a good move against Dube when bowled at his body to prevent him from playing the pull shot - only 40 off 32 such balls. The back-of-a-length region becomes fruitful when bowled to keep the ball angling away from him. Again, Dube’s planted feet and affinity towards the on-side restrict him from dabbing the ball in the off-side. The good length works in patches against Dube.
Anything full, especially outside the stumps, is a big no.
Delhi Capitals, in Match 13, showed how to keep Dube in check. They took Axar Patel out of the attack. The pacers bowled only a handful of deliveries in Dube’s zone and kept it away from him with a number of wide yorkers. The left-hander scored only 18 off 17 balls before getting out to ball in his zone, at the behest of the rising required run rate.
Shivam Dube is CSK’s high-impact six machine. The middle overs are when the run rate drops for the batting side. Dube bats in this phase to keep the scoreboard ticking with sixes. If teams can pin him down, CSK will have to move from Plan A.
Dube isn’t anywhere close to being the perfect batter. But such is the modern-day T20 game, with teams inculcating a middle-overs six-hitter, the margin of error is extremely small against such batters.
*all stats since IPL 2022 unless mentioned otherwise
