"Fleming and Mahi bhai both decide" - Shivam Dube on who takes calls like promoting him in CSK's batting order

Shivam Dube has disclosed that it was MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming's combined call to promote him in the Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) batting order whenever required.

Dhoni and Fleming are the most successful captain-coach combination in Indian Premier League (IPL) history. The latter, who played for CSK in the inaugural edition of the tournament, was appointed the head coach in 2009 and the duo have led the franchise to five titles in the prestigious league since then.

During an interaction on the AakashVani show on JioCinema, Aakash Chopra asked Dube about Dhoni's role in taking calls like promoting him up the order, to which he responded:

"Fleming and Mahi bhai both decide. Both the captain and coach decide together that if a wicket does not fall in the first six overs, it also means that we would have scored runs as well, and then we can dominate."

The CSK all-rounder pointed out that he would be mentally prepared how to tackle the bowlers as he would be pre-informed about the decision. He elaborated:

"So they used to ask me to be ready. They used to tell me in the powerplay as well but they used to ask me to be ready as I would go to bat after six overs. So it used to be in my mind which bowler would come after six overs and I would be prepared about what I would need to do against them."

Dube, who played previously for the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Rajasthan Royals, enjoyed limited success with the two franchises. Although he did not enjoy a great time with CSK in IPL 2022, he was a resounding success this year, smashing 418 runs at a strike rate of 158.33 in 14 innings.

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"You can talk about Mahi bhai's magic or the team environment" - Shivam Dube on why players are willing to do everything for CSK

CSK are known to have one of the best team environments. [P/C: iplt20.com]

Shivam Dube was further asked why players are willing to do everything for CSK, to which he replied:

"You can talk about Mahi bhai's magic or the team environment. You can talk about the practice. The team's heads, Kasi Sir and Srinivasan Sir, if you talk about them, you get whatever freedom you require."

The Mumbai player added that the CSK team management's focus is on the process and not on the results. He explained:

"They don't judge you on how you perform but on the effort you put in, and whether you are going in the right direction and how you are taking yourself a step forward. If you go one step forward, the team will 100% move forward."

Dube highlighted that the confidence given by MS Dhoni and the coaching staff helped him bring his six-hitting ability to the fore. He added that they had a clear role definition for him and asked him to play fearlessly.