Did Ditching The Board Exams Help India Bowler Ravi Bishnoi?

U19 World Cup’s top wicket-taking bowler Ravi Bishnoi ditched his board exams for playing cricket? Read further to find out.

The U19 cricket team of India lost the finals of the World Cup against mighty Bangladesh yesterday but two of India’s players emerged as stars in the whole tournament. The young players- opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and bowler Ravi Bishnoi outshined even in the losing situation.

Yashasvi Jaiswal became the highest run-scorer of the tournament with 400 runs in 6 matches and Ravi Bishnoi became the highest wicket-taker with 17 wickets in 6 matches. Both have been lauded for their performance and are expected to spill over the same form while they play for the respective teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.

Talking about Ravi Bishnoi, the young leggie was bowling to some best batsmen during the net sessions of the Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur during March 2018, he received a call from his father who asked him to come back and write the 12th Board exams.

It was a tough choice for the young bloke, who then took advice from his two coaches. They told him, “Browny, it is now or never”, and they backed his passion over his dad’s decree.

It was the same year that the spinner was noticed by the cricket fraternity and his career took off. With Man Of The Match performance against Japan and New Zealand in the U19 World Cup Tournament, his bowling proved to be troublesome for the batsmen.

One of his coaches from the Spartan Academy in Jodhpur, Pradyot Singh shared, “It was March 2018. He had to wait for his turn and he was not sure if he would get a chance to bowl in Royal’s nets session. After his father asked him to come back, he thought of leaving. But destiny had it, he stayed put and didn’t appear for Boards that year and is yet to sit for the exam.”

After facing rejection from the Under-16 and Under-19 trails the 19-year old spinner from Jodhpur was disheartened but his passion for the game and the support system around him kept him going. The youngster came into forefront when his bowling was noticed during the Rajasthan Royal’s net sessions; they then trained him and helped him over some certain hurdles.