Having been released by two teams previously, Shivam Dube entered the 2022 IPL auction with a base price of INR 50 lakh. When the teams competing for him were about done, Chennai Super Kings entered the bidding and got his services for INR 4 crore. MS Dhoni had asked for Dube. And whoever Dhoni wants, CSK try their best to get.
It was during pre-season training that Dhoni's plan started to become clear. He wanted Dube to be the disruptor in the middle overs. A batter whose highest season strike-rate in the IPL had been 122.85. Somebody who had batted 100 balls in a Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament only once. Dhoni saw his middle-overs spin hitter in Dube. And as a CSK insider says of such decisions from Dhoni, "He has hit a few balls in his time."
Once Dube's role was defined, Dhoni, CSK head coach Stephen Fleming, and batting coach Michael Hussey began to work with him. Hussey hadn't known the plan initially but once he started working with Dube he found a few strengths in his game.
"He's got a unique strength," Hussey told ESPNcricinfo. "Not many players in the world have the amount of power that he does have. And he's a big guy as well so he is hard to get away from. So you can't bowl away from him. He's got a fair few assets. And we wanted to encourage him to use his strengths, his unique power."
The CSK leadership worked on two things: to give Dube confidence and backing, and rid his mind of any unnecessary thoughts. "Dhoni and Stephen Fleming have to take a lot of credit," Hussey said. "They would've seen his natural talent and natural ability, but then trying to give him the confidence and the freedom to be able to play in that manner.
"I know Dhoni has been very supportive of him, as has Stephen Fleming, so it makes a big difference if you've got that. If you've got that clarity in your mind, you feel like you can just go out there and take the spinners down. And if it doesn't come off, then that's okay because that's what the captain - well the former captain - and the coach want him to do."
When it came down to it, Hussey realised a blank mind was a great mind for Dube. "He's better off when there's less thinking," Hussey said. "When he's just seeing the ball and reacting to the ball, that's when he is at his best. If he starts thinking too much, or there's too many doubts in his mind, then that's when he can sort of start to struggle a little bit. So most of my conversations were about, 'How can you just gain clarity? How can you clear your mind of all those doubts or negative thoughts?' Just be free to see it and smack it outta the park."
How do you remove thoughts? "It just comes from trusting him in the game. And then if it doesn't come off, there's no repercussions," Hussey said. "Stephen Fleming would probably get more angry with him if he didn't try and smack the spinners outta the park."
CSK gave Dube all the range-hitting he wanted. "He just tries to hit sixes [at training]," Fleming told ESPNcricinfo last year. "His hitting is based around just hitting bowlers and nothing else, because that's the role we want him to play. We don't really want him looking for ones and twos, that'll be a byproduct of a mis-hit or of getting through a fast-bowling spell that he has to, otherwise it's just, 'Hit as soon as you feel ready. Just start hitting.'"
Dube didn't want to be a one-dimensional hitter though. His training sessions with Hussey this year were different. "He does practise hitting the spinners obviously because that's his job," Hussey said. "But he also does a lot of work on his basic game as well. So he works a little bit on his defence. Then a lot of teams have been bowling short stuff at him in the last year or so. So he's done a lot of work on the short ball.
"Then earlier this season teams started bowling wide yorkers and wide slow balls to him. So we did a lot of work on countering that as well. So he's always having a look at what the opposition are trying to do to him and to improve his game that way."
The India allrounder speaks about his finishing abilities and his role as a bowler
The result has been three IPL seasons with strikes rates of 156.21, 158.33 and 162.29. Only Nicholas Pooran has hit more sixes than Dube in the IPL since 2022. And only 35 of Dube's 79 sixes have come against spin. He is not the best hooker and puller but he has found a way to not get stuck against the short ball. When Dube stays at the crease, he sometimes forces opponents to bowl their death bowlers sooner instead of a spinner, giving CSK a tactical advantage. That's why India are keen on him and will try their best to fit him in the XI. That will likely mean Virat Kohli opening with Rohit Sharma, even if it leaves them a bit vulnerable against left-arm spin.
The challenge for Dube is to keep his mind free when playing for India. It is also a challenge for the India leadership to give him the same security and understanding. There is also a significant difference in the rules that they will have to adjust to: with an Impact Player in the IPL, it is easier to put a lesser price on your wicket. There is no Impact Player in international cricket.
The conditions in New York are not going to be standard either. Dube struggled when the ball was stopping on him in the warm-up match against Bangladesh and so he might need to readjust his target. It does appear, though, that India are willing to make every allowance for Dube, because the value he offers in terms of strike rate and tactical advantage is high.