His Netherlands teammates alternate between calling Roelof van der Merwe ‘opa’ – grandad in Dutch – and ‘bulldog’. He hates the former nickname and strives to prove through his performance that he’s ageing like a fine wine. The mockery around his elderliness should’ve come to a halt when he backpedalled from short fine leg to produce an overhead grab that dumped South Africa out of the T20 World Cup 2022, but since humour is ingrained in their culture the 41-year-old had to produce another moment of brilliance in the field to ward off the taunts once and for all. He covered a fair bit of ground at long-off and flew sideways to clasp the skier with both hands, reverse-cupped, as Tilak Varma perished to the wide line.
A casual watcher wouldn’t associate van der Merwe with such a level of athleticism, similarly how timing and placement aren’t considered the métiers of biffer Shivam Dube. On Wednesday night in Ahmedabad, Indian batters were guilty of trying to overhit the ball but an enforcer retained by Chennai Super Kings for his power game at 12 crores scored at a strike rate of 213 by adhering to the basics of batsmanship. He took his time initially, picked his spots to perfection, used the dimensions to his advantage, and paced his knock well to handhold India to an above-par total from a delicate 69/3. It was also an ode to their resources, for each game in this edition has witnessed a different hero. Suryakumar Yadav against USA, Hardik Pandya versus Namibia, Ishan Kishan in the Pakistan arch-rivalry, and Dube during the last group match.
Most associate nations have passed with flying colors in this tournament and Netherlands did their homework in a bid to maintain the growing reputation of teams at the bottom rung of the cricketing ladder. Aryan Dutt, in a fantastic PowerPlay spell worth 2/17, aced the positive match-up against left-handers Abhishek Sharma and Kishan, both tied up by the incoming angle of his overspinning off-breaks from a good length. Dube nearly met a similar fate if not for the bold umpire’s call. To combat Pandya’s strength down the ground, Netherlands had a straightish long-on. For Suryakumar, they moved the fine leg squarer and he didn’t have to move an inch to pocket his signature wristy flick. Before Logan van Beek conceded 20 runs in the 17th over, the seamers had an economy of 3.8 with their cutters. India were able to manage only 62/2 in the consolidation phase of 7-14, with Suryakumar’s departure after being on a run-a-ball 24 putting Dube in the spotlight.
He’d observed from the dugout his fellow batters’ struggle for rhythm as they looked to flex their muscles. The more productive results, he deduced, came via picking the correct ball to attack and middling it. He cleared the front leg and heaved Colin Ackermann for a couple of gigantic sixes, the bat swing so fluid that the wood made contact with his trapezius on the follow-through. Sandwiched between the lusty blows was an enchanting cover drive that was again, not hammered, but executed with ideal weight transfer and precision to beat extra cover to his left. While dominating spin is his specialization, the conscious effort to get the basics right was visible in his attempt to pull an off-paced bouncer, a weakness at the beginning of his top-flight career that he fixed by facing chin music from 18 yards on bouncy red-soil decks.
With each passing boundary giving him a confidence boost, Dube pranced into what elite batters refer to as the ‘zone’, a state of absolute control where strokeplay becomes natural, expected and effortless. Take, for instance, the shot that brought him fifty. He had to reach for the ball, but his optimal hand-eye coordination ensured a connection decent enough to fetch four. Even in the Ackermann over, his stable base and long levers allowed him to hit maximums off balls that weren’t quite in the slot. At the warm-ups, the Netherlands spinners were practising block hole yorkers but in the middle, van der Merwe dished out a full toss instead as Dube engaged his beast mode. With Hardik unveiling the tennis forehand to back of length operation from Kyle Klein, one of Netherland’s weapons in coloured clothing, along with Rinku Singh who thrashed out an encore of his six off Shaheen Afridi, India garnered 75/2 in the final five. It was due compensation for the 19-ball streak at the halfway mark where they couldn’t progress beyond singles.
“It was a little tough on the wicket, but this is the situation I love to bat and I was enjoying it although I was in pressure for some time,” Dube said. “The offspinner Aryan Dutt bowled really well to me and four dot balls, a good over from his side, but I knew that I’m going to cover up later. Some balls were skidding as well as keeping low. One of the balls spun as well. So, for me, it was like, yes, I can hit him, but at that time the situation demands something else. So, I have to play at that time.”
Fresh off a blistering 65 off just 23 balls in India’s unsuccessful 216-run chase against New Zealand in the fourth T20I, including a 29-run over off Ish Sodhi, Dube’s exploits have thrust India into the Super 8 with a clean sheet. “I felt today is the day, so I need to be a little smart, push myself, stay till the end, but I also need to regain my strength as well. That’s what I did. That’s why I’m a power hitter,” he added.
Contributions from the lower-order are of paramount importance for the favourites because the swashbuckling Abhishek has bagged three ducks in a row. Thus they also receive a buffer given the nine dropped catches in the competition, the second-most among the 20 participants. To put things in perspective, Netherlands lost only by a margin of 17 runs, continuing the trend of underdogs proving that the global game is in the pink of its health. Much like Roelof van der Merwe.
