JAIPUR: The last few months have been quite rewarding for Ravi Bishnoi. He not only made a comeback into the Indian side after almost a year, but also surpassed one of the best in the business, Rashid Khan, to become the No.1 T20 bowler in the ICC rankings during India-Afghanistan series earlier this year.
With things falling in place, the 22-year-old is hoping for a good IPL outing with eyes on making it to the upcoming T20 World Cup squad. In a chat with TOI, the leg-spinner from Jodhpur shares about dealing with disappointments, his equation with his IPL team Lucknow Super Giants’ (LSG) captain KL Rahul and his Under-19 teammates. Excerpts:
DEALING WITH THE SNUB:
Between September 2022 and August 2023 was a phase when Bishnoi was clueless why he was not being considered by the national selectors for the T20 side. “There are phases in life and how you deal with them becomes important. My two coaches, Pradyot Singh Rathore and Shahrukh Khan, ensured that I stayed in the right frame of mind and kept giving my best whenever I had an opportunity, be it in the IPL or in the domestic games. Thankfully I never felt insecure and changed the way I bowled. I just kept bowling more and worked on my batting. I follow a simple theory that the more you bowl the more you grow.
I was waiting for my chance and always thought that when I will make a comeback, my performance should make everyone feel that I should be in the team,” Bishnoi told the publication before leaving for Lucknow from Jodhpur.
AIMING FOR T20 WC SQUAD?
The 22-year-old is on the national selectors’ radar for the upcoming T20 World Cup starting in June this year, but he does not wish to overthink about it. “Who would not like to be a part of the World Cup squad? That's my dream and definitely a good show in the IPL can help. But first thing first, focus is on giving my best for LSG. Let's see how it goes here,” he stated.
‘I SHARE GOOD BOND WITH KL'
It has been four years to his IPL debut and Bishnoi has always played under KL Rahul- first during his stint with Punjab and now with Lucknow. “At LSG, it's KL bhai whom I always approach for suggestions. Be it during, before or after the IPL, I always reach out to him for help. He backs me a lot and gives me the freedom to express myself. He often tells me that with 50 odd IPL games under my belt I am a senior player now and should take my own calls. If you feel that something has to be done a certain way, do it!, he says. I made my IPL debut for Punjab under him and have never played under any other captain in the league. This adds to the ease of communicating things freely to him,” he shared.
'MOTIVATED SEEING U-19 TEAMMATES'
Proud of his Under-19 India teammates, the leggie says that Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel and Tilak Verma have worked hard and shown great discipline to reach where they are now. “They had fought hard in life and it feels good that the boys I played with during Under-19 days have made it to the senior team as well. I must admit that Yashasvi has now motivated me to play Test cricket,” the youngster remarked.
