Can Dube level it up for CSK?

 

Chennai Super Kings' struggles stretched from top to bottom in their underwhelming IPL 2025 campaign, with just four wins out of 14 games resulting in a first-ever wooden spoon finish. More crucially, for the first time in all their years of participation, the ten-time finalists went two consecutive IPL seasons without making it to the playoffs. Ayush Mhatre and Dewald Brevis' blitz late in the season presented promising signs for the future, and now, a top-order featuring Sanju Samson and Ruturaj Gaikwad lends solidity. But the lack of conviction thereafter could still have their shortcomings from 2024 and 2025 resurface.

A team that has traditionally banked on experience, CSK went big after young Indian batters at the mini-auctions in December, acquiring uncapped Kartik Sharma (wicketkeeper) and Prashant Veer (all-rounder) for INR 14.2 Cr each. Both known for their six-hitting abilities, the two have batted only 18 innings in 21 T20 appearances between them, with Kartik (SR: 162.92) smashing more sixes (28) than fours (16), hitting a maximum once in every seven balls. CSK will have one (or both, depending on how they structure their bowling) in their starting XIIs, and their run could determine Shivam Dube's role and approach, which had a distinct contrast in IPL 2025 to what it has been for India of late.

Dube essentially offers two of the most sought after traits a modern T20 team would ask for from a middle-order batter: spin-hitting expertise in the middle-overs and impact at the back end. He has played those two roles to perfection in India colours over the last few years, best illustrated in his two recent outings - the T20 World Cup semi-final and the final respectively earlier this month.

His returns for CSK however took a major hit last year. His IPL strike-rate across 2022-2024 read 159.16, and dipped to 132.22 in 2025. More crucially, he struck at a mere 118.8 against spin, compared to 176.47 during their victorious 2023 campaign. The numbers were more a product of uncertainty at the other end hampering his own approach, than there being visible shortcomings. He looked more keen on rotating the strike, compared to the last two editions, with a dip in the percentage of attacking strokes. The percentage of balls hit for boundary read 21.14% across 2023 and 2024 (once in roughly five balls), and downgraded to 11.96% in 2025 (once in eight balls).

Dube vs spin in the IPL 2023-2025 cycle

Edition	Runs	Balls	SR	Dismissals	Ave	Dot%	Bnd%	4s	6s
2023	210	119	176.47	4	52.5	26.6	21	3	22
2024	87	56	155.35	4	21.75	38.9	21.42	4	8
2025	139	117	118.8	4	34.75	33.8	11.96	4	10

Dube's shot-type percentages vs spin in the IPL since 2023

Year	Attack%	Rotating%	Defended%	No-shot offered%
2023	71	17.7	8.9	2.4
2024	62.8	30.6	5	1.6
2025	56.4	39.5	2.5	1.6

CSK's combined strike-rate against spin almost defined how they fared across the three editions in the cycle. Their batters collectively struck at 140.92 against spin in 2023, the best for any team in the competition (Dube went at 176.47 as mentioned above), while it read 124.36 in 2025.

Batting SR vs spin in the IPL since 2023

Edition	Overall (all teams aggregated)	CSK (ranked)	Difference	CSK's campaign
2023	132.98	140.92 (1st)	+7.94	Champions
2024	141.37	131.61 (8th)	-9.76	5th
2025	143.49	124.36 (10th)	-19.13	10th (Last)

Another key aspect for a modern-day T20 batter is how quickly he can get off the blocks, often a key differentiator between the two teams, especially when the field is spread out. Dube's strike-rate in the first 10 balls of his innings was 146.56 in 2023, 144.16 in 2024 and plunged to 123.57 in 2025. A measure of how crucial that has been for CSK: his strike-rate in the first 10 balls of an innings in wins in the IPL since 2023 is 155.05, compared to 122.95 in defeats. His overall strike-rate in overs 7-15 read 152.38, 141.29 and 127.12 respectively in the last three editions.

CSK's middle-order batters (No.4 to 8) collectively struck at 123.15 in the first 10 balls of their innings in IPL 2025, the lowest among all teams and well below the overall season aggregate of 137.14. GT led the way with 159.09, which was a function of their incredibly consistent top-order, meaning the likes of Sherfane Rutherford, Shahrukh Khan and others often walked in to bat in the final stages of the game. MI (150.64) and the eventual winners RCB (142.85), the next two in this list, boasted a long batting line-up. CSK (and Dube) in 2023 had the luxury of an in-form opening pair upfront, and Ambati Rayudu and Moeen Ali to complement Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni at the back end, but that hasn't been the case thereafter.

This was best reflected in their game against MI at Wankhede last year. Dube, having walked in to bat at the end of the eighth over, could manage just three singles off his first 10 balls, and his strike-rate crossed 100 for the first time after he'd faced 20. He eventually scored 50 off 32, CSK finished with 176/5, and the hosts gunned down the target with a whopping 26 balls to spare. In that high-octane clash in Bengaluru a year earlier, he'd walked in when the asking-rate to qualify was 10.5. Tested by the short-pitched deliveries from Lockie Ferguson and Cameron Green then, he endured a 15-ball struggle for 7, and required rate eventually jumped over 12.

Recency serves as a great example of how clarity and the overall strength of the batting line-up has served him well in India colours. Of the 18 players who faced at least 200 balls of spin in Overs 7-15 in the IPL across 2022 and 2024 - only two had a 150-plus strike-rate: Sanju Samson (490 runs at 152.64) and Dube (332 runs at 152.29). These two were at the crease for a good part of this phase in the T20 WC 2026 semis, with Dube promoted at No.4 to counter England's best Adil Rashid. The left-hander scored 22 off 8 off the wrist-spinner during his stay, while Samson focused on handing over the strike (8 off 9), while attacking the ones operating from the other end. Dube's stay delayed Rashid's final over, ensured that Liam Dawson didn't bowl again, and forced Harry Brook to bowl Will Jacks in the 20th over against Hardik Pandya.

In a hypothetical scenario of Samson being dismissed earlier in that game, Dube would still have had the luxury and clarity to go for his strokes, with Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik, Tilak Varma and Axar Patel to follow. That however, wasn't the case in IPL 2025, with Dhoni's entry point almost fixed, and lack of support from the other end before that. It remains to be seen if his approach is altered (and to what extent) in the upcoming season, say if the entry point is at 100/2 after 10 overs and it becomes 110/4 after 12. CSK have Brevis in the middle-order, who has been striking at 171.78 against spin in T20s since 2025, and at 170 in the middle-overs in the timeframe, but one end has been enough to open it up for their opponents lately.

Unlike how Jacks' final over backfired for England earlier this season, that might not be the case against CSK, for teams have used that ploy successfully in recent times. Rajasthan Royals used Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana to great effect in the closing phases in Guwahati last year, while other teams too, have done that on multiple occasions over the last six editions. Dhoni has struck at a mere 95.88 against spin in the IPL since 2020 (129.35 in Overs 16-20), compared to 158.10 against the quicks. For a team that gunned down improbable targets in the closing stages for fun in their prime, they have stuttered while at it of late, most famously against RCB (twice!). They have just 1 win out of 13 while chasing 180-plus in the IPL since 2020, and even that came by a narrow margin, featuring an uncharacteristic 45 off 40 from Dube as he had no option but to bat deep.

As for Dhoni, he had famously gunned down 23 in the 20th over against Axar Patel in Visakhapatnam in 2016 (for RPS) - still a record target achieved in the final over of an IPL game against a spinner. But that's a thing of the distant past, and even with the experience and skills, that'd perhaps be the last territory CSK would want to enter.