Former Indian opener Kris Srikkanth questioned Ravi Bishnoi’s inclusion in India’s playing XI in the second T20I against England at Old Trafford, Manchester on Saturday. England registered a four-wicket win against the visitors to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Meanwhile, Bishnoi was not up to the mark as he conceded 60 runs in his quota of four overs. The leg-spinner was taken for 29 runs in the 17th over he bowled by Jacob Bethell and it was the turning point of the game. Bishnoi bowled two back foot no-balls and he was taken to the cleaners by England’s left-hander.
Srikkanth said on his YouTube Channel, “It was a terrible over from Bishnoi. Giving him that over was also a wrong move by Shreyas Iyer. Bethell tore Bishnoi into pieces. That over finished the match off. Bishnoi handed over the match to England. Bishnoi didn’t even play half the IPL for RR but got a place in this side, which is hard to understand.”
“It wasn’t wrong to drop Kuldeep Yadav from the 11. Kuldeep hasn’t bowled that great for a while now. But he should have been in the squad ahead of Bishnoi. Nobody knows where Bishnoi suddenly came from. Just picking him off overall stats is of no use. One should never trust overall stats. Only recent numbers should matter.”
The 1983 World Cup winning player said Prince Yadav should have played ahead of Bishnoi. Yadav had made an impressive debut against Ireland as he had bagged three wickets.
“What is the need of playing two wrist spinners in Bishnoi and Varun Chakaravarthy in English conditions? Instead, Prince Yadav should have played as he has done well. You should have played only two spinners in Varun and Axar. Why are you playing three spinners in England? Bishnoi is good only on Indian wickets,” said Srikkanth (via the aforementioned source).
“The conditions were overcast and there was a lot of bounce off the wicket. I don’t understand why Prince Yadav didn’t play in such conditions. He did well against Ireland. Why is Bishnoi playing ahead of him? I don’t understand.”
The third T20I between England and India will be played at Nottingham on Tuesday.
