Shivam Dube is the most evolved cricketer in this Indian team, perhaps just after Axar Patel. With the likes of Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson or Abhishek Sharma, the question was when they would start living upto their potential. Shivam, though, was judged before trusted — does he really have it in him to star at this level?
The answer wasn’t in his beefy arms or pumped-up calf muscles. It was in his brain. And heart.
Hardik Pandya had miscued. As they crossed near the boundary on Sunday night, Hardik was in Dube’s ears. Not that he wasn’t listening, but Dube seemed in a trance. He jogged in, playing shadow straight-drives, continuing at a slowed pace to accommodate Hardik’s small talk. Dube didn’t say a word. Hardik had this lovely expression as he watched the silent assassin glide past him into the playing arena. Some evolution you can see. Some you can only feel.
The match was tight, even with Sanju Samson still in. Dube flayed his first ball, an attempted yorker that had turned into a dipping full toss, to deep mid-wicket boundary. He remained as calm as he had looked jogging past Hardik. In the Indian dressing room, Ishan shuffled sideways frantically, craned his neck to check the ball’s destination. Beside and behind him, teammates did the same, celebrating with pumped fists as the ball crossed the boundary. One more boundary would deflate the West Indians before the final over. Dube opened the bat-face, slicing elegantly through point. Four. More celebrations in the dressing room. He quietly walked across to Samson, as if ordering a drink at the bar.
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He could always hit big, but had genuine issues against short-pacy deliveries. He can bowl seam-up, but often without much venom. How would he step up to become the finisher who could be depended on to bowl two overs at the least?
In the Asia Cup final against Pakistan, India trusted Dube to bowl with the new ball. Bowling is his weakest arsenal, especially with the new ball and no boundary riders. Yet, he excelled.
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Shivam Dube is one of the most evolved cricketer in the Indian cricket team. (PHOTO: AP)
After Samson’s 97 had secured the win, Gautam Gambhir singled out those two fours off Shemar Joseph. “For me, Shivam’s two boundaries are as important as Sanju’s 97,” Gambhir said. “If he hadn’t hit those two boundaries, you won’t even have spoken about the 97. The big contribution makes headlines. The small contribution that helps the team cross the line is very important.”
When Samson sank to his knees to offer a prayer after his career-turning knock, Dube strolled across toward him. He let Samson have his private moment, didn’t celebrate animatedly. Just waited. Twenty-one years of mustard oil had taught him patience.
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His father Rajesh, a wrestler, spotted something in his four-year-old son—an unusual knack to pummel the ball. A homemade pitch sprang up. Hours of training began. “After practice, I’d massage him for an hour and a half with the mustard oil from our village,” Rajesh had told The Indian Express. “I did so for 20-21 years.”
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Fiscal troubles arrived when Rajesh’s factory shut down. Five years without cricket. By the time the father sorted out finances, Dube had ballooned to 110 kilograms. They plunged back into the game and fitness. The father and son fell out for a while when Dube went against his parents’ wishes to marry interfaith. They reconciled.
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At CSK’s Chennai nets, Mike Hussey worked with Dube for hours, developing his game against pace. Dube continues to evolve. Even that second boundary on Sunday night— as simple as it looked — was a problem area just a month back. His setup in the crease, wholly focused on getting his hip to swing and twist like a golfer’s, meant he would leave full deliveries outside off stump or have an ungainly flail. The knee wouldn’t bend in time. On Sunday night, he got down quickly, timing the ball sweetly.
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His monstrous hitting against pace is the real highlight. Unlike many big hitters, he doesn’t only favor full length anymore. Even short-of-length deliveries that bounce at him at pace, Dube cracks crisply.
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He is tall, stands pretty erect. Those hips don’t lie, but contort to get him into a supremely balanced position where he can swing through the line and on-the-up to crush deliveries that kick up. He can still be vulnerable when the ball seams away from middle toward outside-off. He tends to open up, hang his bat. It’s not a regular sight on T20 tracks that don’t offer such seam help to pacers.
His bowling remains work in progress. He can slip into hit-me slot bowling, but he’s honing the skill. Slow bouncers banged into the turf. Off-cutters. Well-outside-off yorkers. Not always successfully, but considering his progress with the bat, further development wouldn’t surprise.
From the mustard-oiled kid in the backyard to the silent assassin at the bar. Dube continues to evolve.
