India’s veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin highlighted similarities between the batting styles of Dube and legendary Yuvraj Singh after the Chennai Super Kings star made waves in the recently concluded T20I series between India and Afghanistan.
29-year-old Shivam Dube was adjudged as the ‘Player of the series’ for his all-round performance and contribution to India’s series sweep. Ashwin lauded Shivam Dube’s bat swing and the ability to send spinnes into the stands after the all-rounder’s match-winning knocks against Afghanistan.
“I can proudly call him ‘Yuvraj Singh lite’ package. There are so many factoids about Yuvraj Singh that I could see in his game, the downswing, the height and the reach,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
“I am not saying that he is like Yuvraj Singh, just saying he reminds me a lot of him. The beauty here is that he hits spin straight down the ground,”Ashwin added.
The off-spinner also pointed out the similarity in the pitches between Chepauk and West Indies, where the T20 World Cup will be played.
“Hardik Pandya is a crucial member of this Indian team. However, the emergence of Shivam Dube, just like how we divide ears into Before Christ and After Christ, we can divide his career into ‘before CSK’ and ‘after CSK’. In West Indies conditions, which are almost CSK conditions, he is a spin-hitting monster,” the off-spinner said.
