Shivam Dube

There are very few genuine seam bowling all-rounders in the Indian domestic circuit, and Shivam Dube is one of them. A talented left-handed player, Dube clearly has the talent to succeed, but he needs to work on certain aspects of his game to cement his place in the Indian team.

He made his First-Class debut for Mumbai in the 2017/18 Ranji season. In the first innings of his debut match, Dube took his first fifer and decimated the Karnataka middle order with his seam bowling.

The following year, Dube scored his maiden First-Class century playing against the Railways. He came into the limelight in a 2018/19 Ranji match against Baroda , where he hit five sixes in an over. He finished the Ranji season as the highest wicket taker for Mumbai with 23 scalps in eight matches. 

Dube was roped in by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (now Royal Challengers Bengaluru) ahead of the 2019 IPL season. A lot was expected of him, but the attacking batter was disappointing to say the least. He registered 40 and 129 in the 2019 and 2020 season, respectively, and as a result, Dube was released by the franchise.

After having back-to-back good seasons with Mumbai, Dube was given a chance to make his T20I debut against Bangladesh in Delhi. 

In only his fifth T20I, he smashed his maiden fifty versus the West Indies.

In December 2019, Dube was given the opportunity to make a name for himself in the ODI format. He made his debut against the Windies and scored just 9 runs as India lost the match.

In the fifth T20I match against the Kiwis in 2020, Dube bowled the most expensive over by an Indian in a T20I match, conceding 34 runs. 

He was brought in the team to give tough competition to Hardik Pandya, but he did not live up to the hype that was generated initially.

Ahead of the IPL 2021, Dube was bought by the Rajasthan Royals for INR 4.40 crore. While he did not leave a great impact with the bat as a whole, his blistering 64 runs against CSK impressed MS Dhoni, who made the all-rounder a part of the Yellow Army after signing him in the IPL 2022 auction.

This changed Dube’s career arc for good. The southpaw smashed 280 runs in the 2022 season at a strike-rate of 156.22, playing quite a few impactful knocks. He set the stage on fire in IPL 2023, bringing consistency in his batting, which he lacked up until then. Dube racked up 418 runs that year, filled with 35 sixes, at a strike-rate of 158.33.

This led to his India comeback. He returned for the T20I series against Ireland in August 2023 but received the opportunity in only one match. He was also a member of India’s winning squad in the men’s cricket event of the Asian Games 2023.

Although he was dropped for the T20I series versus South Africa, he was handed a chance to feature in home matches against Afghanistan. Dube ended up being Player of the Series, scoring back-to-back fifties in the first two fixtures while taking two wickets.

Thanks to his red-hot form in IPL 2024, Dube was included in the Indian squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024, set to be played in the Caribbean and the USA in June.

(As of May 2024)