Avesh on Bishnoi’s miraculous catch in India’s win over Zimbabwe

Harare: Ravi Bishnoi’s fielding has always been athletic, but in the third T20I against Zimbabwe he took it to the next level when he poked away a screaming ball from Avesh Khan to dismiss Brian Bennett, much to the awe of his Indian team-mate.

India defeated Zimbabwe by 23 runs on Wednesday to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series. But the talk in the dressing room was mostly about Bishnoi’s stunning catch that sent Zimbabwe’s star player off the field, leaving the home side at 19 for 3 in the fourth over.

The pacemaker said he was momentarily ‘shocked’.

“When he took the catch, I don’t think he had the reaction time. I also didn’t get the reaction time (to see what happened). I was actually shocked how he took that catch,” said Avesh, who took two wickets as India restricted Zimbabwe to 159/6 in their chase of 182.

Avesh added that the wicket should be credited to Bishnoi, because of the tremendous effort he put in.

“He is a good fielder, works a lot on his fielding. The catch he took, the scoreboard will show that it was taken by me but it should be credited to his (Bishnoi’s) account,” Avesh added in a video posted by BCCI.

Indian captain Shubman Gill said it was a truly magnificent performance from Bishnoi and showed that the leg-spinner was enjoying his fielding.

“Very happy with the team’s win and 2-1 series lead and the catch that Bishi (Bishnoi) made was absolutely remarkable. It was really lovely to watch.

“Cricket is definitely a team sport and it’s even more of a team sport when you’re on the field. So it’s very important to have fun when you’re on the field. When you’re having fun, you’re always in the game,” the captain added.

Washington Sundar said he had the best view of the catch because he was standing in the middle of the court.

“It was a great opportunity for me to be at mid-on and have a clear view of what was happening during the catch… and during that particular ball. It (the ball) was going at rocket speed and Bishnoi… that rocket speed was there (he was also showing rocket speed),” Sundar said.

Bishnoi himself was modest about the catch, saying he had done more field exercises.

“Yes, it felt good. We have been talking about fielding for the last 2-3 days, how I can improve my fielding even more. It is a new normal for me to take the catch off Avesh’s bowling.

“Unless we make that effort to catch the catch, we don’t know whether it’s close or far. So I force myself to be as close to the catch as possible,” Bishnoi added.

According to Rinku Singh, this was not the first time that Bishnoi had made an excellent catch.

“It was a great catch but it’s not the first time he has made such a catch; he has made several good catches in international cricket and the IPL,” Rinku said.