Shivam Dube is having a topsy-turvy time with the bat in the IPL 2023 and has faced plenty of criticism and trolling.
In the 2 knocks so far in the tournament, the lanky left-hander has managed scores of 19(18) against Gujarat Titans and 27 (16) against Lucknow Super Giants. In both his knocks, Shivam Dube was mostly tied down by pacers who have employed a short ball barrage on the southpaw.
Against LSG, he was 5(10) but then found his mojo and blasted 3 sixes and four before being dismissed. These lusty blows from Shivam Dube eventually came in handy as CSK won by only 12 runs in the end. The left-hander smoked Yash Thakur for a six and four before slogging Ravi Bishnoi for a couple of sixes but the leg-spinner had the last laugh as he elicited a mistimed slog from Dube.
The first of those two sixes to Ravi Bishnoi from Shivam Dube was a massive one, measuring 102 meters. This 102-meter hit from Shivam Dube is now the longest six in the IPL 2023 so far, going past KKR’s Rahmanullah Gurbaz‘s 101-meter six to Sam Curran.
To a googly from Bishnoi that had pitched on length and was slanting away from Shivam Dube but it was in his hitting arc, the batter judged the length and swung his bat powerfully after clearing his leg. Dube made a good connection on the ball which then went soaring high in the air and deep in the stands over long-on. The ball was a bit too short from Bishnoi and Dube duly pounced on it for a gigantic sixer.
Watch: Shivam Dube’s gigantic 102-m six, the biggest of IPL 2023 so far
CSK prevailed by 12 runs in the end. In the cahse of 218, LSG got off to a rocking start courtesy of Kyle Mayers’ stunning assualt (53 off 22). Once Mayers was dismissed, by Moeen Ali, who took 4 wickets in all and bagged the Player of the Match award, LSG’s rail fell off the tracks. Nicholas Pooran (32 off 18) kept them alive, but it proved too much for Pooran as well.
Playing after over 1400 days at the Chepauk, CSK were delighted to finish with a win.
“Terrific high-scoring game. All of us were thinking how the wicket would be. It was the perfect first game that could happen. I thought it would be much slower. But it was a wicket where you could score runs. I was quite surprised with the wicket. But we’ll have to see if we can produce a wicket like this game after game. Fast bowling we need to slightly improve. Need to bowl according to the conditions. WHat is important is to keep an eye as to what the opposition bowlers are doing,” MS Dhoni said.
