With his impressive performances in the 5-T20I series against Australia, it could be strongly argued that Ravi Bishnoi has stamped his place in India’s T20 World Cup 2024 squad.
Bishnoi was named the Man of the Series for finishing as the leading wicket-taker in the T20I series against Australia. He took 9 wickets, which included plenty of top-order batters, including Travis Head, Matt Short, and Aaron Hardie.
Yuzvendra Chahal has dropped far behind in the pecking order in the T20 team, both in terms of performance and future potential. More than anything, the management and selectors seem to have done away with Chahal as he’s not shown the adaptability and flexibility in years of his experience that someone like Ravi Bishnoi has done in a short span of time.
It feels that Ravi Bishnoi is made purely for T20 cricket. While Chahal has stuck to the mantra of flighting the ball, taking the so-called “braver” and “courageous” route, Bishnoi has learned the trades of T20 cricket quickly, by bowling much flatter and faster than Chahal, who gets whacked often.
Ravi Bishnoi’s selling point is that even though he’s a leg-spinner by characteristic, the googly, or the wrong’un, is his stock ball.
The comparisons between Chahal and Bishnoi allude more and more to why the latter is now the preferred leg-spinner. While Chahal invites the batter to have a go with his loopy and flighted leg-breaks, the young Bishnoi darts it in and looks to cramp the batsman, both for room to free his arms, and for space and time to get under the ball.
Bishnoi also brings with him is the flexibility to bowl one or two overs in the powerplay and strike with the new ball, as he did in the T20I series against Australia.
Ravi Bishnoi could be India’s X-factor or trump card in T20 World Cup 2023
And while he’s only 23 years old, Ravi Bishnoi has already featured in 106 T20 matches, 52 of which have been in the IPL across 4 seasons.
The pitches in the West Indies and the USA have been dry and gripping, and somewhat similar or slightly better surfaces are expected in next year’s T20 World Cup too.
It is also likely that India might decide to play three spinners in the XI, picking Jadeja, Kuldeep and Bishnoi, all three providing their point of differences with variations of speeds and turn.
