The Indian cricket team fans were left baffled and frustrated after not seeing the name of leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi on Team India’s playing XI for the 2nd T20I against South Africa.
The first T20I in Durban was washed out on Sunday. On Tuesday, both teams locked horns in the 2nd T20I at St George’s Park in Gqeberha.
Interim captain Suryakumar Yadav and head coach Rahul Dravid were required to make the tough call of dropping Ravi Bishnoi from the playing XI, despite the young leg-spinner being in good form during the recent 5-T20I series against Australia.
Given that Gqeberha also received rain on the match day, so much that the covers were removed just before the toss, India decided to go with three specialist pacers and only one specialist spinner, Kuldeep Yadav, and Ravindra Jadeja being the spinning all-rounder. This left no space for Ravi Bishnoi despite his recent success.
Bishnoi was the Man of the Series award winner in the India vs Australia T20I series in India. He took 9 wickets, which included dismissals of top-order batters Travis Head, Matt Short, and Aaron Hardie.
Ravi Bishnoi has certainly pipped over Yuzvendra Chahal for the leg-spinner’s spot in the T20I, but not Kuldeep Yadav.
Not seeing Bishnoi in the team today, the fans were irked and trolled Rahul Dravid, the head coach.
Reactions of fans after Ravi Bishnoi was not included in the 2nd T20I vs South Africa:
Meanwhile, Aiden Markram won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Teams:
South Africa (Playing XI): Matthew Breetzke, Reeza Hendricks, Aiden Markram(c), Heinrich Klaasen(w), David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Andile Phehlukwayo, Gerald Coetzee, Lizaad Williams, Tabraiz Shamsi
India (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar
