Since a breakout IPL season with Delhi Capitals (DC) in 2024, when he hit 378 runs in 13 innings at a strike rate of over 190, Tristan Stubbs has enjoyed success across international formats and T20 leagues. During the period he had helped South Africa to the 2024 T20 World Cup final and, towards the end of last year, he scored Test hundreds against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Stubbs has attributed the recent success to a "big mental" switch.
"It was a big mental thing, I was doing some stupid - or not smart - things out in the middle, so I figured out how to control the emotions when the pressure is on and now hopefully I can keep learning and keep trying to do that in the big moments," Stubbs told reporters after linking up with DC for IPL 2025.
Stubbs, whose strike rate jumped further to 262.50 between overs 16 and 20 in the last IPL, was retained by DC for INR 10 crore (USD 1.2 million approx.) ahead of the upcoming season. Stubbs has been honing his power-hitting skills for IPL 2025.
"I like doing some range hitting just to see the ball go over the ropes more than anything and just to find your swing," Stubbs said. Obviously, just shifting it through formats, that's the first thing I try and do when we shift to the T20 training group. Just find the swing again and then I go from there."
Stubbs isn't just about raw power. He also has the game to manoueuvre the ball against spin, a skill that will be vital on Indian pitches.
"Yeah, I think it's a very different game here [in India], there's a lot of spin, you've got to be able to play spin really well," Stubbs said. "Sometimes you have to have a plan B and C because plan A might not be working on the day, so it's having different options and being able to commit to them, if you feel that's the right thing."
The easy-paced, flat pitches in Delhi and Hyderabad last season favoured batters so much that no total seemed safe at these two venues especially. Stubbs said that such surfaces gave batters the licence to keep attacking.
"Sometimes it can free you up, sometimes you can look at the scoreboard and feel you need to get a lot more than you need to," Stubbs said. "But it's trying to find a balance when you're out there thinking you need 20 an over, but realising you can actually do it with maybe two sixes and a couple of fours. But until you're out there, it always feels like a long way away."