Ravi Bishnoi Lives His Dream Despite Facing Rejection in U19 Trials

The four-time champions India may have lost the coveted U-19 World Cup title, but the leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi ended up picking the most wickets in the tournament. In the final game of the tournament versus Bangladesh at the Senwes Park in Potchefstroom on Sunday (9th February), Bishnoi ended up picking the four important wickets for India.

However, the defending champions India U19 ultimately suffered a defeat despite fought well. India lost the final match by three wickets as per the DLS method.

Apart from Parvez Hossain Emon (47) and the skipper Akbar Ali (43) none of the Bangladesh batsmen were able to score runs in the final clash. It was the 33 extras given by the Men in Blue that cost them the Cup title. Out of the 33 extras, 19 balls went wide.

The Indian bowlers, Kartik Tyagi and Ravi Bishnoi were the only bowlers to have restricted the Bangladesh players from scoring the big runs. Meanwhile, Tyagi bowled two maiden overs but failed to pick up a wicket. Whereas, Bishnoi emerged as the ace spinner with three maiden and four wickets in his kit.

Ravi Bishnoi’s journey from the rejection in U-19 trials to picking most wickets in World Cup

Ravi Bishnoi hails from Jodhpur in the domestic circuit and has had quite an interesting journey in cricket so far. The youngster became the net bowler for the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League in March 2018. And in the recently-concluded U-19 World Cup, Bishnoi ended up being the highest wicket-taker of the tournament.

In fact, he became the only Indian cricketer to have plucked as many as 17 wickets in the six matches of the ICC event for the teen youngsters. Although India lost the showpiece event, Bishnoi has now come under the eyes of all the cricketing fraternities with his dead-eye accuracy in the limited-overs game.

However, the leg-spinner did not get quite the successful beginning of his cricket career as he has now. While he got rejected in the U-16 trials, Bishnoi gave another try in the U-19 trials. Nevertheless, the cricketer was once again rejected by the Rajasthan junior selectors on day of the Under-19 open trials in Jaipur.

Meanwhile, in March 2018, the youngster became the net bowler for the Rajasthan Royals. Although his father wanted him to appear for the board exams, Bishnoi went on to skip the exams and continue his cricket growth.

However, Ravi Bishnoi’s talent and hard work paid off as the coaches started to spot him along with former Rajasthan Royals player Dishant Yagnik, who helped the teenager to overcome many hurdles later. Now, he has emerged as the ace wicket-taker for India U19 in the coveted tournament.