Ravi Bishnoi "Different From Any Other Leg-Spinner": Sri Lanka Great's Huge Praise For India Star

With nine wickets in the five-match T20I series against Australia, young spinner Ravi Bishnoi was one of the standout performers for India during the bilateral. With only six T20Is remaining for India ahead of the showpiece, it is fair to say that the 23-year-old has overtaken veteran leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal in the pecking order, at least for now. Bishnoi has also been called up to India's T20I squad for the forthcoming tour of South Africa, starting December 10. Now, the youngster has earned massive praise from legendary Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.

Muralitharan, during a recent conversation, compared Bishnoi to the likes of Anil Kumble and Ravichandran Ashwin, but explained what makes the youngster a bit different.

"India have always had a good, uh, set of spin in every generation. You see from Anil (Kumble) to (Ravi) Ashwin to now the young guys who have come. Bishnoi is different from any other leg spinner than any other ones. He bowls quicker and he makes the ball slide a lot and Axar also is very accurate, not a big spinner of the ball and Washi also is similar because he doesn't turn much and is very accurate and quite quicker," Muralitharan said on Jio Cinema.

So far, Bishnoi has appeared in 21 matches and picked up 34 wickets.

Australian skipper Matthew Wade admitted that facing Bishnoi even on some of the batting-friendly tracks here was not an easy job.

"Their spinners bowled well. They got us tied down and we couldn't really break away in that middle period. So, that was probably the biggest difference in the game.

"Bishnoi, obviously, has been great throughout the four games. He has been quite hard to get a hold of. Some of our guys with less experience will learn a lot from facing him," said Wade.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team South Africa Cricket Team Ravi Bishnoi Muttiah Muralitharan Cricket