IPL 2024: "He can tonk the ball properly" - Aakash Chopra on Shubham Dubey, Rajasthan Royals' new acquisition

Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra said that Shubham Dubey is an excellent buy for the Rajasthan Royals (RR) as a lower-middle-order batter heading into IPL 2024 as well. However, the Royals bought the Vidharbha player for ₹5.80 crore at the auction and they also purchased Rovman Powell for ₹7.40 crore as another big-hitting middle-order batter as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “They went with an extremely clear strategy into the auction, that they need batters who can bat down the order. For that, they first started bidding for Rovman Powell, who interestingly enough came in the first set, and they went after him. They said they needed him. I liked the clarity.”

The former India opener added: “They didn’t stop there. It wasn’t easy to buy an Indian finisher in this auction. Shubham Dubey, Shahrukh Khan and Kumar Kushagra were the options. They tried their best and acquired Shubham Dubey. He is a left-hander who has come from tennis-ball cricket. He can tonk the ball properly.”

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Shivam Dubey has smashed 485 runs at a stunning strike rate of 145.20 in 19 T20 innings as well. He also has a decent List A record, with 159 runs in six innings coming at a good strike rate of 90.34. Aakash Chopra also noted that the Rajasthan Royals failed to utilize the Impact Player rule effectively in IPL 2023 as well. However, Aakash Chopra also acknowledged that Jos Buttler’s indifferent form was another factor because of RR’s inability to reach the playoffs.

“Rajasthan, for a very strange reason, although they are a team that lays a lot of emphasis on analytics, a lot of people say that they can make their XI based on numbers, but despite that, they just could not crack the Impact Player rule,” Aakash Chopra concluded. “They used to have only five bowlers and six batters. Every team had a batter at No. 7 and an extra bowler but their team didn’t used to have one, and even if there was one, they weren’t able to use him properly. It was baffling.”