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Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter Shivam Dube received praise from fans for his fighting match-winning knock of 34 (28) against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in IPL 2024 on Friday (March 22).
The lanky all-rounder showed a lot of character and composure in this knock, which impressed many. Due to his reputation of being a spin basher, opposition captain Faf du Plessis refrained from bringing on spinners, except one over from Glenn Maxwell, during his stay at the crease. The visiting team instead employed a short-ball ploy to trouble Dube continuously.
The southpaw struggled initially and also miscued a couple of pull shots, which luckily did not result in catches. His confidence grew steadily with time and he eventually managed to smash a couple of boundaries after getting comfortable to power CSK to the target of 174 in the 19th over.
Rachin Ravindra (37), Ruturaj Gaikwad (15), Ajinkya Rahane (27), Daryl Mitchell (22), and Ravindra Jadeja (25*) also chipped in with handy contributions for the Chennai-based side in the chase.
Fans were impressed with Shivam Dube's knock against RCB and expressed their reactions through X. Here are some of the top ones:
"We saw he was not comfortable with the short stuff"- RCB captain Faf du Plessis on reasons behind short-pitched bowling plan for Shivam Dube
Speaking after the conclusion of the match, RCB skipper Faf du Plessis shed light on their bowling plans in the second innings and said:
"They were batting at the pace where they were always in front of the game. We were trying to find opportunities to get wickets. With Dube, we saw he was not comfortable with the short stuff. In the end, we just did not have enough runs. If you look at the stats, it is very much in favour of batting first (at this ground). It (the pitch) looked on the drier side. For the spinners, the ball started to grip a bit. Someone like Shivam Dube is a really good spin-hitter and that is why we went back to pace."
On his team's performance, he continued:
"All said, batting first was the right decision. Really good for Dinesh (Karthik), setting up this season. For someone who has not played a lot of cricket, really important to start the competition with confidence. Anuj (Rawat) showed real promise towards the end of last season. Showed great composure and then showed us his power towards the back end. Felt we were 15-20 runs short."
Do you think Royal Challengers Bengaluru did the right thing by bowling only short-pitched stuff to Shivam Dube? Let us know your views in the comments section.
