"Glad that I let him follow his passion" - Ravi Bishnoi's father

Team India leg spinner Ravi Bishnoi shone on his international debut by producing a Player of the Match performance in Kolkata against West Indies on Wednesday. The cricketer's father, Mangilal Bishnoi, has expressed his delight on his son donning the Indian jersey.

Mangilal revealed that he had always wanted Ravi to concentrate on his education so that he could get a decent job because of their middle-class background. However, he finally let the youngster chase his cricketing dream after being persuaded by Bishnoi's coach. Mangilal was quoted as saying by The Times of India:

“The whole house was full of guests. We all saw Ravi bowling. It was such a wonderful night and it was a very proud moment to see my son in India jersey. He was performing poorly in school and I used to get calls from teachers complaining about his performance."

He added:

"I tried hard to persuade him to focus on studies, but it was him and his coach, Pradyot Singh Rathore. And it was Shahrukh Pathan, who eventually passed out. I convinced him to play the game. I am glad I let him follow his passion."

Bishnoi conceded just 17 runs from his full quota of four overs and picked up the crucial wickets of Roston Chase and Rovman Powell in the clash against the West Indies. India secured a stunning 6-wicket victory in the fixture to go 1-0 up in the 3-match series.

Ravi Bishnoi to play for Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2022

The 21-year-old was one of the three players picked up by the Lucknow Super Giants ahead of the recently concluded 10-franchise auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2022).

The crafty leg spinner will pocket a hands-on salary of ₹4 crores for representing the RSPG-owned team in this year's cash-rich league. Indian batter KL Rahul will captain the Lucknow side in the upcoming edition of the IPL.

Lucknow Super Giants squad: KL Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, Ravi Bishnoi, Quinton de Kock, Manish Pandey, Jason Holder, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Mark Wood, Avesh Khan, Ankit Singh Rajpoot, K Gowtham, Dushmanta Chameera, Shahbaz Nadeem, Manan Vohra, Mohsin Khan, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers, Karan Sharma, Evin Lewis, Mayank Yadav