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The second T20I of the three-match series between the Suryakumar Yadav-led Indian national cricket team and the Aiden Markram-led South Africa national cricket team is currently underway at St George’s Park in Gqeberha on Tuesday, December 12.
The first match of the series between the teams fizzled out as rain played a spoilsport role. Now, the Men in Blue and the Proteas have only a handful of matches left before finalizing their combination for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 in the US and West Indies.
Meanwhile, India They made many changes to their playing XI for the second T20I against the Proteas. The likes of Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was ill, Shreyas Iyer, Ravi Bishnoi, Axar Patel and Avesh Khan were left out and replaced by Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj.
Ravi Bishnoi’s non-selection came as a surprise to many as he recently put in an absolutely exceptional performance for India in the home series against the Australian national cricket team. He even bagged the Player of the Series award and rose to the top spot in the ICC Men’s T20I Bowlers Rankings.
Ravi Bishnoi, 23, was excellent with the ball during the T20I series against Australia and finished as the leading wicket-taker.
He had a huge impact in the powerplays of the series as he bowled 7 overs in this phase and picked up 5 wickets and conceded 45 runs. Overall, Bishnoi bagged 9 wickets at an average of 18.22 and economy of 8.20 in the five-match T20I series against Australia.
Here’s how X (Twitter) reacted when India dropped Ravi Bishnoi from the playing XI in the second T20I:
No. 1 ranked T20i spinner Ravi Bishnoi will not play tonight.
Shame on the team management. #INDvSA #TeamIndia #BCCIpic.twitter.com/xh3GvuAqVX
— 😎 (@Zimbu12_) December 12, 2023
No. 1 ranked T20i spinner Ravi Bishnoi will not play tonight. pic.twitter.com/jEz6Zd0D0j
-Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) December 12, 2023
How the hell could you leave Ravi Bishnoi? 🤬
-Mohit (@moheet) December 12, 2023
Both Ishan Kishan and Ravi Bishnoi will not play today. Most likely, one of them will play at No. 3 in the upcoming World Cup and the other will be the No. 1-ranked T20I bowler. Strange selection by the management when we only have 5 T20Is before the World Cup.
— 🧘🏻♂️ (@gattapogi) December 12, 2023
Is Ravi Bishnoi in the team…if he is there and not picked in the 11 it is a sacrilege…what motivation do young players have if they are treated like this…what a shame India…if they had boys, Shouldn’t they have chosen him? on the team and faced the music of the fans.
– Gummadam Narsing Rao (@GummadamRao) December 12, 2023
Ravi Bishnoi, the number 1 in the ranking, also misses today #INDvSA pic.twitter.com/rSaQsBm2fd
— Manoj_42875 (@manojkryadav428) December 12, 2023
I just noticed that there is also no Ravi Bishnoi who has become the new no. 1 T20I bowler a few days ago Today’s selection is crazy. #INDvSA #SAvIND #SAvsIND
-Prateek (@prateek_295) December 12, 2023
The Indian team is like a government agency/PSU.
Seniority matters. Unfortunately, nothing else does.
World’s No. 1 T20I Bowler, Man of the Series vs Aus: Ravi Bishnoi is out.
Also, Jadeja is not good at T20. She has been named vice-captain and an in-form Axar is eliminated. 🤦♂️ #SAvIND https://t.co/NCTDvxmSc1
-Aditya (@forwardshortleg) December 12, 2023
What kind of team selection is this? Shameful!
Ravi Bishnoi is the number one ranked T20I bowler. But they ditch him for Kuldeep! Oh really?
Shreyas Iyer was the leading run-scorer in the previous match, Tilak literally fell! But now… Oh!Shame on lobbybazi! #INDvSA pic.twitter.com/1alQI1aSRw
— #ᵒᵉ (@AneekDey108) December 12, 2023
What else should Ravi Bishnoi do to stay in the team? https://t.co/C9fo1PUeSX
– 😎 (@Cricsomaniac) December 12, 2023
How the hell could you leave Ravi Bishnoi? 🤬
-Mohit (@moheet) December 12, 2023
Why did you leave Ravi Bishnoi in today’s match?#indiavsafirca #T20Cricket
– 🕉Ankush24🇮🇳 (@Ankush24439007) December 12, 2023
The player of the match in the previous two T20Is (Axar Patel) is not part of the team.
The player from the previous series (Ravi Bishnoi) was not chosen in the playing XI.
The player who scored fifty and was VC in the previous T20I (Shreyas Iyer) fell.#INDvSA #SAvIND
-Ajinkya Dhamdhere (@ajinkyasd) December 12, 2023
India removed number 1 T20 bowler Ravi bishnoi.🤫🙈🙈 #SAvIND
When will this batting depth concept end? 😁😁😊🙊 pic.twitter.com/l4jJmHMqyY-Khaled (@villa_310) December 12, 2023
Ravi Bishnoi, who is the world’s number one bowler, has been dropped. This is called gaming policy.
—Dharmendra Narayan (@Dharmen96679744) December 12, 2023
What the hell did they drop Ravi Bishnoi? What a move, just amazing, nice.#INDvSA
-Ujjwal (@Ujjwal333) December 12, 2023