Nitish Rana & Shivam Dube: Will the unsung heroes of IPL 2023 season get a shot at Team India?

Nitish Rana & Shivam Dube: Will the unsung heroes of IPL 2023 season get a shot at Team India?

Neither Nitish Rana nor Shivam Dube is among Indian Premier League’s highest run-getters this season. Neither is too young as both are 29 years old. Neither of them is a superstar of their respective teams — Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings. And yet it is undeniable that without their vital contributions, their teams would have had to worry a lot.

If Rana has scored 405 runs at an average of 33.75 and a strike rate of 143.10 so far in this Indian Premier League (IPL) season as an opener for KKR, Dube has scored 363 runs at a better average (40.33) and a better strike rate (147.14). Both have scored three fifties in this IPL.

Similar journeys

If you look closely there are a lot more similarities in their respective journeys so far.

Both started with only four games each in their debut season, Rana in 2016 and Dube in 2019. Both have managed to play a single ODI in their career with almost identical scores (10 & 9). If Rana did not get a chance to bat or bowl in two T20Is he played for India, Dube despite getting more than a dozen (13) chances, failed to impress.

Against this backdrop, the IPL 2023 was a big challenging season for them to re-establish their presence.

If Rana was suddenly given the additional responsibility of captaincy of Kolkata as Shreyas Iyer got injured, Dube knew that a lot will depend on his bat if Chennai must make it to the play-off as captain Dhoni in the middle order was past his prime. If CSK’s play-off position is almost certain and KKR too has lived to fight till their last league game, a lot of credit goes to Dube and Rana. With over 400 runs, which is his best-ever IPL season, Rana has shown that captaincy has made him a better batsman.

Similarly, a specifically defined role (to target the spinners in the middle order) has played its part in Dube making this IPL his best-ever as well. If Rana is being mentored by the giant of domestic coaching Chandrakant Pandit (head coach of the KKR) then Dube is blessed to have someone like Dhoni as his captain who is backing him to the hilt to unleash his full potential.

"He is someone who can hit very cleanly. He has an issue with fast bowlers but he's a clean hitter against spinners. We had certain plans for him but once he arrived at our camp, he was injured. So we couldn't do a lot of work.

We feel that he's somebody who can deliver and who can get those extra runs in the middle overs. He needs to believe in that more than us. We know he has the talent, but once you cross the boundary ropes into the field you are on your own,” Dhoni had said a few weeks back, and since then the middle-order batsman has been a remarkable enforcer for the CSK.

More applause

Rana may not have the flamboyance or the Bollywood kind of looks like Dube but he has been applauded by the greats of the game. "Nitish Rana has led KKR from the front in the last two games. His timing has been immaculate, he attacked spinners and pacers with equal ease. He is batting well and even making the captaincy moves brilliantly,” said Harbhajan Singh on Star Sports' Cricket Live a few weeks back.

Regardless of how KKR and CSK end in this tournament, it can be safely said that both Rana and Dube have enhanced their individual reputation with some consistent showing in this edition of the IPL. They may not have grabbed the headlines like Yashasvi Jaiswal but they cannot be overlooked either. With Indian cricket looking all set for a younger and bolder look in the 2024 T20 World Cup, will Rana and Dube get another chance to redeem themselves? That is hard to tell after a fine season however if luck smiles on them as it did in this IPL, who knows both may get a chance to be part of the same playing XI for Team India in future!