Ravi Bishnoi in middle as U19 team celebrate
Indian leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi on Sunday surpassed Kuldeep Yadav and three others to script a U19 World Cup record for India. He scripted the feat during the summit clash against Bangladesh at the Senwes Park in Potchefstroom.
Bishnoi provided India with the first breakthrough, ripping Bangladesh's 50-run opening stand between Parvez Hossain Emon and Tanzid Hasan. Coming back for his third over, Bishnoi removed Mahmudul Hasan Joy on 17, whose century had guided Bangladesh to their maiden final. And finally changed the entire course of the game with his third strike by dismissing Towhid Hridoy for a duck. Bishnoi single-handedly reduced Bangladesh from a strong 50/0 to 62 for three in a matter of just 32 deliveries. He eventually picked up his fourth wicket with the dismissal of Shahadat Hossain on 1 in the 17th over.
With his second wicket, he surpassed Shalabh Srivastava (2000), Abhishek Sharma (2002), Kuldeep (2014) and Anukul Roy (2018) to become India's highest wicket-taker ever in a single World Cup edition. Overall, with his tally of 17 wickets, he stands joint-fourth in the list alongside Tim Bresnan (2004), Tim Southee (2008).
The tally also made him the highest wicket-taker in the ongoing edition, moving past Canada's Akhil Kumar and Shafiqullah Ghafari of Afghanistan - 16 wickets each.
Bishnoi also became the third Indian bowler to take a four-fer in a U19 World Cup final after Piyush Chawla in 2006 and Sandeep Sharma in 2012. Overall, he is the fifth bowler to achieve this feat, albeit standing behind Pakistan Anwar Ali who had bagged a five-wicket haul in 2006 final in Sri Lanka.
