"He can tonk the ball properly" - Aakash Chopra on Rajasthan Royals' acquisition of Shubham Dubey in IPL 2024 auction

Aakash Chopra feels Shubham Dubey is an excellent acquisition for the Rajasthan Royals (RR) as a lower-middle-order batter heading into IPL 2024.

The Royals bought the Vidharbha player for ₹5.80 crore at the auction last month. The Jaipur-based franchise also purchased Rovman Powell for ₹7.40 crore as another big-hitting middle-order batter.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra praised the Rajasthan Royals for going after Powell and Dubey with the single-minded intention of bolstering their lower-middle order. He elaborated (2:30):

"They went with an extremely clear strategy into the auction, that they need batters who can bat down the order. For that, they first started bidding for Rovman Powell, who interestingly enough came in the first set, and they went after him. They said they needed him. I liked the clarity."

The former India opener added:

"They didn't stop there. It wasn't easy to buy an Indian finisher in this auction. Shubham Dubey, Shahrukh Khan and Kumar Kushagra were the options. They tried their best and acquired Shubham Dubey. He is a left-hander who has come from tennis-ball cricket. He can tonk the ball properly."

Dubey has smashed 485 runs at an impressive strike rate of 145.20 in 19 T20 innings. He also has a decent List A record, with his 159 runs in six innings coming at a strike rate of 90.34.

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"They just could not crack the Impact Player rule" - Aakash Chopra on Rajasthan Royals' issues in IPL 2023

The likes of Riyan Parag failed to deliver for the Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2023. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Aakash Chopra noted that the Rajasthan Royals failed to utilize the Impact Player rule effectively in IPL 2023. He said (1:30):

"Rajasthan, for a very strange reason, although they are a team that lays a lot of emphasis on analytics, a lot of people say that they can make their XI based on numbers, but despite that, they just could not crack the Impact Player rule."

The cricketer-turned-commentator highlighted that the Royals lacked depth in both the batting and bowling departments. He stated:

"They used to have only five bowlers and six batters. Every team had a batter at No. 7 and an extra bowler but their team didn't used to have one, and even if there was one, they weren't able to use him properly. It was baffling."

Chopra acknowledged that Jos Buttler's indifferent form was another factor behind RR's inability to reach the playoffs. However, he added that the Royals underperformed last year, considering that Yashasvi Jaiswal was in red-hot form, and Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer gave a decent account of themselves down the order.