Dot Balls Also Win Matches For You: Ravi Bishnoi

Punjab Kings' leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi gives a lot of importance to dot balls and says that the kind of pressure it builds on the rival team batsmen can go a long way in ensuring victory for your team.

The 21-year-old Bishnoi has been miserly in the two matches he has played in the IPL second leg here and though Punjab Kings lost to Mumbai Indians in the previous match by six wickets, he tormented the five-time champions' top order, dismissing Rohit Sharma for 8 and bowling an unplayable googly to Suryakumar Yadav (0).

The young spinner says checking runs is as crucial as taking wickets.

"Of course, you always want to pick a wicket on every ball but at the same time, you also know that is not possible. However, what is really more possible is to keep the batsmen in check by bowling a lot of dot balls and not allowing them the freedom to hit," the 21-year-old, who is only behind PBKS pacemen Mohammad Shami and Arshdeep Singh in the number of wickets snared, told cricket.com on Friday.

The youngster's ability to contain runs and also strike with a vengeance has seen him take nine wickets in six games, and Bishnoi is only behind Chennai Super Kings' Moeen Ali and Royal Challengers Bangalore's Shahbaz Ahmed in economy rate in this edition of the IPL.

"The dot balls build the pressure on the batsmen and sometimes your partner from the other end will benefit from your efforts and that is all matters for us as we want our team to win. I try to bowl as many dot balls and build pressure," said Bishnoi, who has not played a First-Class match for his home state Rajasthan.

Bishnoi, who also grabbed three wickets -- Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav and Abdul Samadin -- in the match against Sunriser Hyderabad, which PBKS won by five runs, says leg-spinners can be match-winners in the shortest format of the game, adding that while Rashid Khan is definitely a great, there are others like Samuel Badree, Imran Tahir and Amit Mishra who are also great purveyors of the art.

"Badree's accuracy with the new ball was outstanding and that is something you want to emulate as a leg spinner. Similarly, one wants the enthusiasm of Tahir who wants to bowl at any time and Mishra bhai is evergreen," says Bishnoi.

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Bishnoi, who has bowled 54 dot balls so far in this IPL, adds, "Tahir always goes for wickets and Mishra is a traditional leg-spinner who deceives the batters in the air with the traditional flight. The trio have been evolving and they have been playing for a long time and have performed incredibly well and have retained their class."