All-rounder Shivam Dube was one of the stars with the bat for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their second IPL 2022 game against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday (March 31).
Batting at No. 4, Dube slammed 49 off 30 balls while contributions from Robin Uthappa (50 off 27 balls) and Moeen Ali (35 off 22 balls) took CSK to a massive 210/7 in 20 overs.
It was a near perfect day for Shivam Dube until he was handed the ball in the penultimate over of Lucknow’s chase.
With 34 needed off 12 balls, Dube conceded 25 runs in the 19th over to put CSK on the backfoot. LSG eventually chased down the mammoth target with three balls to spare.
While commentating on Star Sports, former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar slammed Shivam Dube’s bowling, saying the all-rounder chose the wrong length to bowl against the LSG batters Evin Lewis and Ayush Badoni.
“He has played a fair bit of limited-overs cricket and he is still bowling those length balls. He is going to get punished. Of course, it’s not fair that somebody who has not bowled so far is given the 19th over when the batsmen are looking to play the shots. But look at it… it’s a length ball. He is bowling the slower delivery but a slower delivery is very useful on a turning, dry pitch. Not on a pitch where the ball is coming off the bat quite nicely,” Gavaskar said.
“Clearly, CSK’s calculation as far as who should be bowling is going wrong. A length ball and a nice easy swing on this lovely batting pitch. He clearly hasn’t learnt anything, Shivam Dube. A quicker ball but length ball this time and it has gone the distance. The first ball went for a six, and then he was smashed for a boundary. Then again, a boundary and then the last ball going to a six – 25 runs,” he added.
CSK have lost both their games in the ongoing IPL season so far. They will face Punjab Kings in their next clash on April 3 at the same venue.
