Watch: Shivam Dube, who was given a surprise call-up to India’s T20 World Cup squad yesterday (April 30), picked up his first IPL wicket in four years when he dismissed Jonny Bairstow against Punjab Kings in Chennai.
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Dube, who can also bowl seam, has been in sensational hitting form in the IPL in the last three seasons and was picked in India’s T20 World Cup squad on Tuesday, presumably as a back-up to out-of-form and injury-prone Hardik Pandya. The only downside was that Dube had limited bowling experience behind him: He had bowled only 19 overs across all T20s in the last two years, with his IPL team Chennai Super Kings not utilising his bowling at all.
He did not send down a single ball in the 2023 IPL and last bowled an over in March 2022. Dube’s last wicket in the IPL came two years before that when he grabbed 2-33 against Punjab Kings in 2020.
CSK usually subbed out Dube while bringing on an Impact Player ever since the rule was introduced in the league, indicating he was not in their plans as a bowler. On Wednesday, however, CSK sprung a surprise when they gave him the tenth over of the inning with PBKS chasing 163 for a win.
Dube started by giving Rilee Rossouw a single and then got Jonny Bairstow, who made a fine hundred last week, out next up. The ball came slightly slower to Bairstow than he expected. He could not get enough power on his attempted upper cut and ended up nicking it to the wicketkeeper MS Dhoni. Bairstow was out for a 30-ball 46 but it was the Indian fans who were celebrating in the end.
