The Punjab Kings finally slumped to their first loss of the season, and the Rajasthan Royals rebounded from their recent defeat against SunRisers Hyderabad to record their sixth win of the season. This happened on Tuesday in Mullanpur, when Donovan Ferreira and Shubham Dubey stood till the end and recorded 52* off 26 and 31* off 12 to push the side beyond the victory line.

With this, the Royals have extended their winning streak against PBKS to three in Mullanpur. Dubey came in as an impact sub in place of Yash Raj Punja and built the crucial 77-run stand off 32 with Ferreira. In the current IPL season, Dubey has played two impactful knocks for the inaugural season winners, to accumulate four important points. Before this game, he came up with a crucial 19*-run knock against LSG off 11 balls.

Who is Shubham Dubey?

Dubey made his IPL debut in 2024 with the Royals, and was brought back to the franchise for 2025 season with a whopping INR 5.8 crore bid. Though he couldnโ€™t get many games last season, the 31-year-old from Vidarbha still made an impact at a strike rate of over 160 in the nine matches that he played. Dubey is known for his explosive finishing and he has been doing the same for the Pink Army after being retained for the 2026 season.

Dubey, professionally is a hard-hitting left-handed batter, who made it to headlines wth his 58 off 20 in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2023. Playing at a strike rate of 290, Dubey amassed 221 runs at an average of 73.66 and a strike rate of 187. 28, and emerged as his teamโ€™s second-highest scorer in their quaterfinal campaign. In the 2024-25 season of SMAT, he smashed 134 runs at an average of 67 and a strike rate of 181.08, including a 30 off 14 against Odisha.

Shubham Dubeyโ€™s financial hardships and difficult beginning

Things were never easy for Dubey, who was born on August 27, 1994 in Yavatmal, Maharashtra. He comes from a modest middle-class family of Nagpur and is a son of a paan shop owner, who later went on to work for a private job. Shubhamโ€™s interest in cricket started developing in class nine, when he would bunk classes to play tennis-ball games with friends.

His career began in 2021, when he made his List A debut in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. For a few years, he had to deal with inconsistency and biasness from the selectors despite regular performances. During the initial stage of his career, Shubham had to seep in crowded dormitories and shared spaces with as many as 10 players. However, he remained true to his goal, and is now considered a reliable name in the RRโ€™s batting order.