Ravi Bishnoi revealed how his captain Rahul supported him when he was not part of the PBKS playing XI in the initial four games.
Ravi Bishnoi
Punjab Kings (PBKS) young leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi was playing his first game of the IPL-14 and that too against defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI). However Bishnoi, 20, proved his mettle by taking two key wickets—Suryakumar Yadav (33 in 27 balls) and Ishan Kishan (6)—conceding only 21 runs in his four overs. Then, riding on sensible knocks from captain KL Rahul (60 not out in 52 balls, 3x4, 3x6) and an equally vital innings from Chris Gayle (43 not out in 35 balls, 5x4, 2x6), PBKS beat MI by nine wickets in Chennai on Friday.
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Earlier, thanks to skipper Rohit Sharma’s 63 in 52 balls (5x4, 2x6) MI managed to post 131-6 in the allotted 20 overs.
Bishnoi revealed how his captain Rahul supported him when he was not part of the PBKS playing XI in the initial four games.
“He [Rahul] was backing me and told me to work more on my bowling; bowl with consistency. He said, ‘Just wait, you will get a chance’, so I did that,” Bishnoi said at the post-match virtual press conference on Friday night.
When asked about the pressure to bowl against big names in the MI team, he said: “Yes, Mumbai Indians are five-time champions. They are an excellent team. But the batsmen struggled against the spinners on this wicket. So, my only focus was to bowl well. I was not thinking about the opposition batsmen.
“The pitch was supporting the spinners. My target was to bowl wicket-to-wicket. It was easy to hit deliveries outside off stump, but the batsmen found it difficult to tackle once that [deliveries] finished in stump line. The pitch was a bit sticky,” added Bishnoi.
For PBKS, pacer Mohammed Shami (2-21) also bowled well, while off-spinner Deepak Hooda and pacer Arshdeep Singh claimed one wicket apiece.
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