Team India leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi admitted that it was good to see Jasprit Bumrah back in his rhythm after the Indian captain conceded a first-ball boundary to Andy Balbirnie and then bowled him the next ball, and got No. 3 Lorcan Tucker to edge behind in the same over.
“It was his first match nearly after 11 months. First ball he bowled was on the legs but after that the five ball he bowled was so good to see. Everyone was waiting for this Bumrah and it was so good to see him back in his rhythm,” Bishnoi told reporters.
Bumrah finished with 2-24 as he prepares for the Cricket World Cup in India.
India chose to bowl first and Ireland, 59-6 at one point, reached 139-7. The visitor was 47-2 after 6.5 overs of the chase when rain forced the players from the field. They never returned and India won by 2 runs on the DLS method.
Ravi Bishnoi, who was economical and picked up two crucial wickets in the middle over said they bowled well as a unit and accepted that they got lucky with the toss.
“We were a bit unfortunate that the match was curtailed by the rain. Overall, we have played a good cricket. We bowled really well and got good start from our openers as well. If not for those weickets, we lost in the last over, we might have been in a very good condition,” he said.
“We won the toss and we got that advantage. If they would have won the advantage would have been with them. Toss always plays a crucial factor in such conditions. Today we were lucky,” he added.
On Ireland being defensive against him, the leg-spinner said: “It must be there game play. But I was bowling aggressively and was trying to pick more wickets.”
Bishnoi was part of the squad that lost against the five-match series against West Indies 3-2, but the youngster played one match that too when Kuldeep Yadav was ruled out from the second T20In after a thumb injury.
“There is lot to learn. I was in West Indies for the five-match series, I played in one match and didn’t played the rest four. But I was ready that whenever I will get a chance I will give by 100 per cent. I was ready for that opportunity,” he said.
Bishnoi also explained that the role of leg-spinner in T20 cricket is not always going for wicket. He said: “It depends upon the team situation. you can’t go with your own theory, a lot depends upon what captain is saying, what the game situation is.”
Sanju Samson might have scored as Bishnoi said “lucky one run,” but the Indian wicketkeeper-batter was certainly a crowd favourite in Dublin and Bishnoi was not surprised to see it.
During the rain-curtailed match Ireland has shown that they are not going to be a pushover in the remaining twi games and Bishnoi admitted that they are not taking the Ireland team lightly.
“In T20 format, you can’t relax against any team. In this format, the game can be changed in one over. In the last over as per DLS we were leading by 10 or 12 runs and then we lost two quick wickets and then suddenly the difference was of one run. In shorter format there are no favourites,” he said.
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