Aakash Chopra believes that Shubham Dubey is a valuable addition to the Rajasthan Royals (RR) as a lower-middle-order batsman for the upcoming IPL 2024. The Royals secured the Vidarbha player for ₹5.80 crore during last month’s auction.
Additionally, the Jaipur-based team acquired Rovman Powell for ₹7.40 crore, adding another powerful middle-order batter to their lineup.
In a video posted on his YouTube channel, Chopra commended the Rajasthan Royals for specifically targeting Powell and Dubey to strengthen their lower-middle order. He explained in the video at the 2:30 mark:
“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.”
Dubey has hammered 485 runs in 19 T20 innings at a noteworthy strike rate of 145.20. In List A cricket, he boasts a respectable record, scoring 159 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 90.34.
“They just could not crack the Impact Player rule” – Aakash Chopra’s take on Rajasthan Royals’ IPL 2023 challenges
Aakash Chopra observed that in IPL 2023, the Rajasthan Royals didn’t make optimal use of the Impact Player rule. He mentioned at the 1:30 mark:
“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.”
The former cricketer turned commentator pointed out that Rajasthan Royals lacked strength in both their batting and bowling units. He expressed:
“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.”
Chopra recognized that Jos Buttler’s inconsistent performance was another reason why RR didn’t make it to the playoffs.
However, he mentioned that the team’s overall underperformance in the previous year was surprising, given Yashasvi Jaiswal’s excellent form and Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer contributing well in the lower order.
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