Ravi Bishnoi is here to stay

By Dominic Scaglioni - https://www.flickr.com/photos/dominic-scaglioni/6915827832/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92844065

Ravi Bishnoi’s bowling figures read – 1 wicket for 22 runs in 4 overs – after a full spell in his debut IPL match against Delhi Daredevils (DD). Bishnoi bowled half the deliveries to Rishabh Pant – one of the most destructive batsmen in the IPL – giving away just 13 runs and eventually getting him out.

Left-hander Rishabh Pant has made his career out of hitting leg spinners out of the ground, yet Bishnoi not only kept him in check but also frustrated him with his sliders and wrong’ uns and ended up having one of the better IPL debuts for a bowler.

The road to the Indian Premier League (IPL) – the biggest T20 league in the World – hasn’t been an easy one for Ravi. He is a 21st-century kid born in 2000 to a school headmaster and a housewife in the western Indian state named Rajasthan.

The small-town boy with a middle-class background had bigger dreams right from the beginning.

Looking to get some formal cricket training, Ravi, aged 12 and having no funds, co-created a sports academy named “Spartans Cricket Academy” with his friends' help. Today that academy is producing great young cricketers in Rajasthan.

Today, Ravi is just 20 years old and is already being touted as the next spin wizard by the experts. However, he has had to face many rejections early in his career. He was rejected in the Under-16 and Under-19 trials for Rajasthan. He finally got to play in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy in 2018 and later in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 trophy in 2019. He hasn’t looked back since.

In December 2019, playing for India in the Under-19 World Cup, he took 17 wickets in six games at a ridiculously low average of 10.64. He terrorized batsman with his fast run-up that yielded him some extra zip and bounce along with the turn.

Soon, the IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) bagged him for a whopping INR 2 Crore.

Currently, he is being mentored under Indian legend Anil Kumble. Let’s hope Ravi Bishnoi lives up to the promise he has shown.

There are all the indications that he will.