Hours after the lakh-plus-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium had echoed with deafening chants of “Dube, Dube” when Shivam Dube lifted the T20 World Cup, India’s “last action hero” was on the top berth of an AC 3-Tier coach of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Sayaji Express, hiding under a thick brown Railway blanket.
Late on Sunday, the tall left-hander with a golfer’s swing had hit three fours and two sixes in the 20th over of the Indian innings to take the team past 250 and New Zealand’s reach. In the early hours of Monday, with all flights to Mumbai fully booked, the “man always in a hurry”, along with wife Anjum and a friend, decided to board a train. India’s T20 World Cup hero knew he risked getting mobbed but he wanted to be with his four-year-old son Ayaan and two-year-old daughter Mehwish, who were at home in Mumbai.
“There was no flight available, so I decided to take a train from Ahmedabad early in the morning to Mumbai. We could have gone by road but the train was faster,” Dube told The Indian Express.
India’s Shivam Dube hits a six during the T20 World Cup cricket final match between India and New Zealand in Ahmedabad, India, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
He then revealed how they put in place a plan to keep his identity under wraps. “Me, my wife and a friend decided to take a train. 3rd AC tickets were available so we decided to book them. Everyone we spoke to was worried, family and friends. What if someone recognised me at the station or inside the train?”
Dube also needed the right attire for the undercover journey. “I wore a cap, a mask and a full-sleeved T-shirt. It was a 5.10-am train so we hoped there would not be many people on the platform,” he said.
But that was not to be — there were many fans, some still in India colours, with the frenzy of witnessing India winning the Cup still fresh. So the plan was slightly tweaked. “I told my wife that I will wait in the car till five minutes before the train’s departure. After that, I will rush to board the train,” Dube said.
Once inside the allotted coach, he quickly climbed to the top berth. Then the ticket checker came. “Shivam Dube? Woh kaun hai, cricketer?” Anjum didn’t miss a beat: “No, no. Woh kahan se aayega (where will he come from)?” The TC moved on.
India’s Shivam Dube fails to catch New Zealand’s Finn Allen out during the T20 World Cup cricket final match between India and New Zealand in Ahmedabad, India, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
After that close call, and tired from the long tournament and celebrations, Dube tried to sleep through those eight hours, hoping that fellow passengers wouldn’t realise that they had amidst them a freshly crowned world champion from Suryakumar Yadav’s team.
“At night, I got down from the berth but no one recognised me on the way to the washroom and back. The train trip was smooth but I was worried about getting down at Borivali in broad daylight. I couldn’t have escaped attention there,” he said.
Dube eventually called the police for help. “They thought I was landing at the airport but were surprised when I told them that I was travelling by train. I was provided a police escort so things were easy and the exit was smooth,” he said with a laugh.
It was an unexpected end to a tournament that had gone by the book for Dube. Coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Surya had defined his role clearly and the late-order batsman followed it to the T — scoring 235 at an impressive average of 39 and strike rate of 169. Batting mostly in the final overs, including that crucial 26 off eight balls in the final, he hit 17 sixes and 15 fours in the tournament. “They asked me to ensure that the run rate never dropped when I batted and to keep runs down when bowling,” he said.
By afternoon, he was home. Ayaan and Mehwish were waiting. The World Cup champion was home. The brown Railway blanket stayed on the train.
