He can rip it, he can dip it - Kumble and Vettori see big potential in 'clever' Harsh Dubey

No team possibly got the choice of replacement players better than Chennai Super Kings (CSK), but Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), another team to have exited IPL 2025 early, might have laid their hands on a superstar for the future. Harsh Dubey, who broke the record for the most wickets in a Ranji Trophy season earlier this year, has impressed the head coach at SRH, Daniel Vettori, as well as Anil Kumble, the most successful Indian Test bowler of all time, and Tom Moody.

Having returned 1 for 44 and 1 for 20 in his first two games - both after the IPL resumed following the mini break - 22-year-old left-arm spinner Dubey picked up 3 for 34 from his four overs in SRH's last game of the season, against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Sunday night.

"We're very pleased with what he has done since he has come into the team - obviously a very clever bowler," Vettori said at the press conference after the match. "[He] understands conditions well, understands how he needs to bowl, and can mix it up. I suppose we were desperate for that little bit of control, and he's been able to do that in all three games he's played.

"And the great thing for him is that between now and the next IPL, he's going to play a lot of cricket, whether it's for India A or his domestic team [Vidarbha]. He's going to get a huge amount of opportunities, so we believe he can grow as a bowler and also as a batter, because the batting part of him was a big part of our decision-making too."

On the subject of India A, Dubey will get his chance in England soon, when the Indians play two first-class games against England A from end-May and also a four-day game against the Test squad from June 13 before the England vs India Test series starts on June 20.

"He's giving it a tweak, that's the start. And when you do that, you certainly get a bit of drift. And, more importantly, it goes off the surface that much quicker. And that's something that we see in Harsh Dubey," Anil Kumble said about Dubey on ESPNcricinfo's Time Out show after the three-for. "It's not just about tossing the ball up. People think that when you're looking to spin the ball... he gives it a proper tweak. And even when you're pushing it - you're looking to bowl faster - you still need to give it a bit of a rip.

"The trajectory needs to be flatter, but you're still giving it a rip, that's what gives you the dip. Today, when he got Ramandeep [Singh] out, and also Andre Russell, he beat them with pace, not just the turn or with... with Russell, it just came back with the arm. He beat them with pace, and that's what you want from a spinner."

The Russell wicket - perhaps the worst ball to face first up - came when Dubey, a ball after getting rid of Rinku Singh, pitched the ball on middle stump on a length and got it to turn. At speed. So plumb was Russell that he didn't even wait for the umpire's decision - it would have crashed into middle stump.

"Absolute peach," Moody said. "One thing I have observed - and Anil is a hell of a lot more qualified to talk about spin - with him is when he changes his pace, he doesn't lose the integrity of the shape of the ball. He's still got overspin on the ball. So when he's looking to bowl quicker, he's still got that overspin on the ball, therefore the ball then drops and, as Anil says, it really kicks off the surface, spins off the surface.

"A lot of spinners, when they are under pressure - are looking to bowl it a bit quicker - lose that integrity of the ball where you've got the seam coming up over the top, it tends to come more on the side, so it just becomes a quicker ball, which disappears even further. So it's how the ball arrives on to the pitch is the most important thing. His arrival, the ball's arrival, has always got a really nice shape to it, and dip to it, with the change of pace. Therefore, from a batting perspective, it's a lot harder to judge [and] just hit the ball out of the ground."

To both Kumble and Moody, the India A stint could well be the first step towards something bigger.

"I see him as a Test bowler as much as a T20 bowler," Moody said. "I look at him and think, 'wow, imagine facing this guy on a turning track'."

Kumble agreed. "He certainly has the potential, and we've seen him bowl today in the white-ball format. The consistency is what matters. And that's something he has shown in domestic cricket, of getting wickets. And this is a great opportunity to be part of the India A squad."