'He should be in Team India because he's hitting best sixes in IPL 2023': Aakash Chopra on Suryakumar's new competition
Aakash Chopra too seemed stunned for a while when the name came up before he named him as Suryakumar Yadav's new competition in the Indian team.
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rinku Singh have become the new superstars of Indian cricket with the likes of Jitesh Sharma and Tilak Varma too being named in the conversations. Veterans and experts have been going ga-ga over the Next Gen cricketers, backing them for the Indian team right after the end of IPL 2023. But amid these young talents, the fabulous return to form of an out-of-favour Indian star seems to be getting overlooked. Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra too seemed stunned for a while when the name came up before he named him as Suryakumar Yadav's new competition in the Indian team.
The 29-year-old isn't among the top getters this season, and sits third on the list for his team, Chennai Super Kings. Yet none has made an impact in that CSK batting line-up more consistently, which has in fact immensely helped MS Dhoni's side to rise to the top half of the table and remain in contention for a place in the playoffs.
Out of the 363 runs that Shivam Dube scored in 13 innings in IPL 2023, 254 came in the middle overs (7-15) at a strike rate of 155, the third best among Indian batters who have at least faced 120 deliveries this season during that phase. But the part where Dube truly stands out is his ability to hit sixes. During the middle overs, he has hit 22 maximums, the most by a batter with each of those coming at a rate of 7.4 deliveries, the best among Indian batters (min. 120 balls).
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Overall, he has struck 30 sixes this season, the joint second-most along side Glenn Maxwell and after Faf du Plessis. Dube have struck those sixes every 7.7 balls, the best among all Indian batters this season (min. 120 balls), as rightfully pointed out by Chopra, and second-best after Maxwell (7 balls).
During an interaction, Chopra, IPL expert with Jio Cinemas, was asked by Hindustan Times whether Dube was getting overlooked among the Next Gen stars, and for a second there he felt stupefied before pointing out to his six-hitting abilities this season. And even though CSK haven't utilised his pace-bowling services in IPL 2023, the veteran has backed the CSK star to make a return to the Indian team based on his batting alone.
"It's a very good name to be honest. I liked the way he batted. If India look to play that brand of T20 cricket then Shivam Dube should be there because he is hitting sixes. He is perhaps hitting the best sixes in the tournament so far. So add his name to that list as well," he told HT.
Veteran India wicketkeeper-batter Robin Uthappa, also an IPL expert with Jio Cinemas, on Wednesday pointed out the key area where Dube has improved his game. Having shared the dressing room with Dube at CSK last year, Uthappa explained that the 29-year-old had struggled immensely against fast bowlers compared to this season where he has been getting inside the line to go for the pull and hook shots against the variety.
"Dube has also worked a lot on his game and his fitness. You can see the effort from him compared to where he was last year. There were certain glaring issues as far as his batting against fast bowlers was concerned and that improvement is noticeable right from the beginning of the season to this point where you can see that he is not backing away to the fast bowlers. He is holding his position and sometimes even coming inside the line and playing the hook and pull shots and that takes a lot of courage. He has always been a great player of spin bowling and is a massive six hitter. And the fact that he has got the backing of CSK franchise and MS Dhoni has given him lots of confidence. He is riding on that high. I think a lot other franchises should learn this trick of how to convert a player from being good to great," he said.
Dube's return to the Indian team would put him in direct competition with Suryakumar, who is the designated No.4 batter, where the 29-year-old has primarily been batting for CSK in IPL 2023. Overall, he has played 14 white-ball games for India between 2019 and 2020 when the selectors had picked him as a back-up for Hardik Pandya. But the all-rounder had failed to impress and had eventually fallen out of reckoning.
