Shubham Dubey is not an unknown. But batting at No. 6 against Punjab Kings (PBKS), ahead of Ravindra Jadeja and Dasun Shanaka in just his second match of the season, with Rajasthan Royals (RR) 72 away from the target with 36 balls left, was a big ask. He pulled it off, though, scoring 31 not out in 12 balls and putting together 77 in 32 balls with Donovan Ferreira, and Kumar Sangakkara, Dubey’s boss at RR, was quick to call him “exceptionally skilful” even though he didn’t want to focus on the individuals.
“I know the focus is a lot on Vaibhav [Sooryavanshi], and I know why, because he’s an incredible player, amazing to watch. But at the same time, when I look at my side and I run through my batters, there’s Vaibhav, Dhruv [Jurel], Yash [Yashasvi Jaiswal], Riyan [Parag], Donovan Ferreira, Dubey, Jadeja, and Shanaka today – they’re all top players,” Sangakkara, the RR head coach and director of cricket, said after RR ended PBKS’ unbeaten streak for the season.
“I thought Dubey today, coming in as an impact [player] – it’s one of the hardest things to do, because you don’t know if you’re playing. So mentally, he is exceptionally skilful to be able to keep that focus and go and bring the game to us. He went in at a tough position. Don [Ferreira] today was outstanding. Riyan’s small innings [29 in 16 balls] was exactly what we needed to bring the momentum back over here. So it was a collective effort.”
Dubey, now 31, is a classic success story of the smaller leagues and tournaments scattered around India, having made his name first through his performances at the Bapuna Cup in Vidarbha. A solid Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (2023-24), where he scored 221 runs at an average of 73.66 and a strike rate of 187.28 made him a name to reckon with. That brought him to RR ahead of IPL 2024, when they splurged INR 5.8 crore on him. He played just four games that season and scored just 33 runs, but had a strike rate of 173.68. So RR released him and bought him back, this time for INR 80 lakh. In IPL 2025, he played six matches and scored 106 runs at a strike rate of 160.60. Enough to keep him on, and give him a go, and he has done well so far in IPL 2026: 19* in 11 balls against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) first, and now this.
“It’s a very difficult role and I think a lot of Indian players get stuck in that role. [And] when they don’t get those runs, it becomes a very difficult position to actually, even for a team management, to support this particular player, and say, ‘okay, this is the guy that we’ve backed’,” Abhinav Mukund said on ESPNcricinfo’s TimeOut. “A lot of teams have the conviction to do that. Some teams don’t. And I always pity these guys who have only ten balls and they have to get about 25-30 runs.
“I always felt that Rajasthan have backed Shubham Dubey, which is a very good thing. I’m glad he’s come good. Even the Lucknow game, his contribution was immense, the reason they got to 160 [159]. It was Shubham Dubey and Jadeja’s partnership [49* in 25 balls]. I think Shubham should be a starter or if the impact player is used like this, then he should be coming in more often than not now.”
Piyush Chawla, speaking on the same programme as Abhinav, pointed to Dubey’s ability to “run the game”.
“We have seen the cameos from Shubham Dubey earlier also, when he was picked by Rajasthan Royals, in the first season itself,” Chawla said. “Then people were still talking about ‘who’s this guy’. But the way he has batted, he has shown that talent. He can play those big shots. He knows how to run the game. He has got that ability.
“And the partnership which he had today with Ferreira, that was just brilliant. He actually made sure that Rajasthan got home.”
