It may be early days yet in the IPL but Shivam Dube has already ticked several of the boxes in his quest for a berth in the T20 World Cup squad.

The all-rounder is being seen as a back-up for Hardik Pandya and a useful batter in the middle-order.

"Bang it in short" had been the common refrain from rival captains whenever Dube used to be at the crease but things seem to be on the mend. There's been a significant change in his approach since his move to Chennai Super Kings from Royal Challengers Banglore in 2022.

He was wrongly used as a finisher at RCB but the CSK think-tank charted a definite role for him.

Promoted in the batting order, Dube has lived up to CSK's expectations with aggression and control. Dube has held the innings together with consistent contributions at No. 4 or 5 since last season.

Dube was CSK's third highest run-getter in their successful IPL campaign last year with 418 runs in 16 matches at a strike-rate of over 158. A side strain has prevented him from bowling this time but he will be back in action soon.

Against Gujarat Titans on Tuesday, he scored 51 off 23 balls, hitting two fours and five sixes. He started off by tonking R. Sai Kishore for two huge sixes to halt the Titans' efforts to make inroads into their innings.

The two-bouncer per over rule has presented a new challenge but Dube is up for it. Spencer Johnson tried to rattle him with a short delivery but he hooked the shoulder-length delivery for a six.

"Definitely, I've worked in that way and it's helping me," Dube, the Man of the Match, said. "I know they will bowl short balls at me; I'm ready for that. They (CSK team management) want me to do the same thing that I did today (Tuesday). They want me to go at a higher strike rate against the bowlers, so I'm trying that."

Batting coach Michael Hussey agreed.

"Well, you rewind to maybe one or two years ago, teams would come in and bowl a lot of short balls and he would either duck out of the way or defend," Hussey said at his post-match press conference.

"Now the bowlers are still coming in with the same plan, but he's been able to score off it as well and he's been able to find boundaries... So that's a testament to the work that he's put in behind the scenes and being ready for their plans.

“I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Dube. He’s gone away and he’s worked and worked tirelessly against the short ball in his own time. He’s understood that’s an area that he needs to improve on. It’s an area that he has gone away and done hours and hours of hard work. So, I mean, hats off to him," the CSK batting coach said.