India's young leg spinner Ravi Bishnoi is the only player in the retention list of new Lucknow franchise which will be led by KL Rahul. The member of India's Under-19 World Cup 2020 runner-ups side got retained for Rs 4 crore ahead of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 mega auction. But before he became a player to look out for in IPL, the young leggie had humble beginnings. He had to work for six months to build an academy in his hometown Jodhpur with his coaches to receive proper training and master his skills.
“I was interested in cricket from a very young age so I joined an academy. Initially my parents didn’t bother but later they would push me to study and tell me to balance both cricket and studies. My coaches helped me by talking to my father about it. We built our own academy in Jodhpur. We didn’t have a proper infrastructure. We spent six months to build it. We were six-seven people, our coaches helped too,” the 21-year-old Sports Tak in an exclusive interview.
“I didn’t get much chances in U-16 and I was later removed from U-19 trials. I had to wait for two years after that. My coaches helped me and I later got picked,” the Jodhpur-born cricketer added.
Ahead of the 10-team IPL season, Bishnoi is excited to play for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) under former Punjab Kings (PBKS) skipper, KL Rahul.
“It was a proud moment for me as youngster that I was picked in the draft system before the auction. I am also picked up by a new franchise so I was even more happy.” Bishnoi expressed.
Earlier, Bishnoi was picked for Rs 2 crore by PBKS (formerly known as Kings XI Punjab) in 2020 auction. The young spin prodigy spoke about his experience playing under Rahul, he said that he is fortunate to have the Karnataka batter lead him again in a new franchise.
“Rahul bhaiya understood my game well and I was getting a lot from him being behind the wickets. It got easy for me with him captaining and fortunately he will lead me again in this new franchise.” Bishnoi explained.
He also spoke about the influence that Indian spin legend Anil Kumble’s mentorship had on him during his days at PBKS.
“Obviously, I got to learn a lot from him (Kumble). He is a legend and I have always idolised him. When I got to play under his guidance, he taught me to back my skills and trust myself. He taught me many things that have helped me so far,” he recalled his experience working with India's highest wicket-taker in Test cricket.
However, Bishnoi started his career as a medium pacer and later transformed himself into a leg-spinner. He credited his coaches for this transformation.
“I started as a medium-pacer, my coaches told me that you are not effective as a seamer. My coaches helped me become a leg-spinner. It is very difficult to learn the skills of spin bowling in the initial stage. My coaches kept on teaching me little things that helped me a lot. It was a nice and an interesting journey,” he recalled early cricket days.
In 23 IPL matches, the young spinner has bagged 24 wickets at an average of 25.2 at an economy of 6.96. His best figures are 3/24 against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
