Ravi Bishnoi recently got his maiden India call-up after being named in both the ODI as well as the T20I squads against West Indies. Many experts feel that Bishnoi’s selection could prove to be a challenge for fellow Indian spinner Yuzvendra Chahal who hasn’t had a great time in recent years.
Despite being given several opportunities, Chahal has failed to grasp those and continues to be on the fringes of India’s limited overs side. He was part of the ODI series against South Africa but failed to make an impact once again, picking up just two wickets in three matches. Chahal had been left out of India’s squad for the 2021 T20 World Cup and it’s quite obvious that India are seeking for new replacements.
Dinesh Karthik feels that Ravi Bishnoi and Rahul Chahar are the two spinners India may have identified as a replacement for Chahal. He also believes that Bishnoi is ahead at the moment and Chahal is lucky to still be a part of the Indian setup.
“At this point of time, outside of Chahal, if you got to pick a wrist-spinner, then there is Rahul Chahar and Ravi Bishnoi. And looking at the way things have panned out, I do feel Bishnoi is ahead at the moment right now. But we need to see how badly is Chahal bowling. His stats say that he hasn’t had the best of years. But in many ways, he has been lucky because there is nobody pushing him for a place in the squad,” said the former Kolkata Knight Riders captain in a conversation with Cricbuzz.
The lack of emerging wrist spinners to claim a spot in the senior national side has been a problem for the Men in Blue. The current crop has seen a variety of fast bowlers emerge through the ranks but not enough spin bowlers who can add different dimensions. Dinesh Karthik believes that the lack of domestic competitions because of COVID might be one of the reasons behind this.
“And that will remain an issue due to lack of domestic cricket because you need people with a lot of wickets, especially wrist spinners, and they haven’t played the longer format. They play only 4-5 games of Vijay Hazare and that’s all you get as a sample to choose from.”
“Covid-19 has created havoc in domestic games. While a lot of the international cricketers want a break, the domestic cricketers want a game right now,” concluded Karthik.
