Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket PlayersMan of the Moment, Shivam Dube reveals legendary MS Dhoni’s role in improving his batting against short balls
There was a time when short-balls were his shortcomings but after a chat with MS Dhoni and the ensuing hard work, he laid those issues to rest.
Allrounder Shivam Dube has become a big force to reckon with in India’s T20I scheme of things. He has been quite useful in the last couple of years, but in the last few weeks or so, he has especially taken his batting to another level.
In the lead-up to the 2026 T20 World Cup, he played a blinder of an innings in one of the T20I matches against New Zealand. At Visakhapatnam, he scored 65 runs off just 23 balls to throw a big scare into the Kiwis at one time. On Wednesday against the Netherlands in India’s last group stage match in the T20 World Cup, he smashed another 66 off 31 balls. This innings was particularly impressive since the Ahmedabad pitch was not exactly conducive to batting. Even India’s top order struggled there.
Dube, who had days before scored a quick 27 against arch-rivals Pakistan, showed he had come of age and unlike in the past where he would look to hit big, he spent some quiet time at the start of his innings, resisting the urge to dispatch the short ones successfully. And once he was set, he unleashed his fury on the Dutch bowlers and helped India reach a solid total -- match-winning as it turned out later.
After the match, Dube, who also took two wickets with the ball, highlighted the change in his batting approach against short balls and credited former India captain, also his captain for quite a few seasons at Chennai Super Kings, MS Dhoni, for this turnaround.
“When I had started playing in the Indian Premier League, I was struggling at that time with short balls. And I figured it real quick that to dominate at this level I needed to fix the problem. I already had the strength. So, I thought I should not be lagging behind because of this shortcoming.
“And then in the offseason I practiced hard with short balls. Mahi Bhai [MS Dhoni] also told me that it’s not necessary to hit a six off those types of deliveries, I can also look for singles as well as boundaries. So, I have been doing that since. I look to tap the ball into gaps. Of course, if the ball in my hitting area, I will hit it but if it’s not, I am content with taking singles or hitting boundaries at the start of my innings,” Dube, who was part of India’s T20 2024 World Cup and 2025 Asia Cup winning teams, said.
India won all their four matches of the group stages and will now kick off their Super 8s campaign against South Africa on Sunday.
