Is Bishnoi now India’s No.1 wrist-spinner for T20 World Cup?

Ravi Bishnoi will be competing for his spot against Yuzvendra Chahal

Thiruvananthapuram: India's Ravi Bishnoi celebrates with captain Suryakumar Yadav after taking the wicket of Australia's Josh Inglis during the second T20 International cricket match of a T20I series between India and Australia, at the Greenfield International Stadium, in Thiruvananthapuram, Sunday, Nov. 26, 2023. (PTI Photo/R Senthil Kumar)

Written by: Venkata Krishna B

3 min readDec 5, 2023 05:00 PM IST First published on: Dec 4, 2023 at 09:37 PM IST

The emergence of Ravi Bishnoi as a prominent spinner not only enriches India’s spin resources, but also creates plenty of competition. With India expected to take not more than three spinners for the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the United States next June, six spinners will be vying for three spots. With variety being the key element, and India having just six more T20Is to play ahead of the World Cup, the next edition of the IPL will be the one that decides who makes the cut.

Ravindra Jadeja vs Axar Patel

It is the trickiest decision of the lot. Both are almost identical in terms of what they offer with the ball and are also livewires on the field. They are both capable of bowling those quiet overs that don’t allow batsmen to free their arms or get underneath the deliveries. If the pacers are leaking runs, it is invariably one of these two that a captain would turn to. But here is the catch. In T20s, playing two left-arm spinners could be counter-productive and hence, there is space for only one of them to make the squad. While Jadeja, with all his experience, is still ahead of Axar in the pecking order, their contributions with the bat could end up deciding who makes the cut. While Jadeja has evolved into a complete batsman, in shorter formats it is Axar who has an edge, especially because of his range and ability to hit spinners and pacers with equal effectiveness.