It was just the other day when former India pacer Venkatesh Prasad wondered why Punjab Kings pocket dynamite Ravi Bishnoi is being snubbed from their Playing XI. Fast forward to Friday, Punjab fields the 20-year-old in the clash against the defending champions Mumbai Indians and Bishnoi delivers straightaway without any delay.
In the contest on Friday night, the Rajasthan cricketer produced an economical display as he completed his four-over quota with two wickets and gave just 21 runs.
Bishnoi, who was roped into the Playing XI in place of Murugan Ashwin, started his first over in IPL 2021 with a wicket as he went on to dismiss a struggling Ishan Kishan on 6 off 17 deliveries.
Bishnoi then provided his side with a crucial breakthrough by removing in-form batsman Suryakumar Yadav on 33 off 27 balls, which then triggered a middle-order collapse.
Ravi Bishnoi’s first 2 overs showing why he should have played the four earlier matches too
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 23, 2021
Apart from him Punjab senior bowler Mohammed Shami also picked two wickets as Mumbai could only manage a paltry 131/6 in their 20 overs.
Bishnoi, who was playing his first match of the season, said the wicket is assisting the spiners and one needs to adapt quickly in these conditions.
"The wicket is sticky and it is difficult to hit the spinners if you bowl well. We bowled well and kept them down to a good total. Just short of a good length is a good length here. I was hit in the third over for boundaries because I bowled wide outside off and I learnt from it quickly and bowled wicket to wicket," Bishnoi said during the mid-innings break.
