KOLKATA: Eight months before the T20 World Cup in Australia, India seem to have unearthed a new weapon in their bowling armoury. On Wednesday, spinner Ravi Bishnoi responded to the call after being preferred over the experienced Kuldeep Yadav and ended up becoming the eighth Indian player to win the ‘Man of the Match’ award on T20I debut.
Under lights at the Eden Gardens, Bishnoi began sloppily. After failing to complete a catch on the boundary line, he struggled to get his line right, bowling wide outside off and also straying down the leg. “I was a bit nervous and excited,” the Jodhpur boy made an honest confession after his spell.
But the good thing was that he was able to calm down and get into the act quickly. After bowling three wides in his first over coming into bowl in the eight over of the West Indies innings, he picked up two wickets in his second over after changing ends. Bowling mostly his stock delivery — the googly — Bishnoi was able to keep the mighty West Indian batters quiet. Interestingly none of the seven sixes that were hit during their innings came off Bishnoi.
It was heartening to see how Bishnoi adjusted to the conditions and also managed the dew factor well. “My strength is my length. I haven’t played a match with a lot of dew so far, so it does affect you. It’s slightly challenging to grip the ball when there’s dew,” he said after the match.
The team management has seen something different in the boy. “Bishnoi is a very talented guy,” skipper Rohit Sharma said at the presentation. “We see something different in him. That’s why we drafted him in the squad. He can bowl anywhere from the Powerplay to the back end of the innings as well giving us options to rotate other bowlers,” he stated.
The bowler is also eager to learn and improve. “I’ll try to cut down the wides next match,” Bishnoi said.
However, the skipper was right when he said, "He has got solid talent and a bright future. It's just about us now how we use him."
