Picture Credit: X/IPL
The KL Rahul-led Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) locked horns with Gujarat Titans in match 21 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. Both the teams entered this fixture on the back of contrasting results. While the LSG were coming on the back of two wins, GT lost their match against PBKS at their home venue.
However, it was the LSG that won the toss and opted to bat first, they posted 163 runs on the board, courtesy a 43-ball 58 from Marcus Stoinis and a quickfire knock from Nicholas Pooran. In their defence of the 164-run target, the LSG successfully restricted GT to 130 runs in 18.5 overs, courtesy a five-fer from Yash Thakur and some important on-field catches.
Amid some notable moments from the LSG vs GT match, Ravi Bishnoi stood out with a stunning flying catch. Decoding this brilliant catch, LSG Fielding Coach, Jonty Rhodes in his post-match interaction hailed Bishnoi and said, “Someone like Ravi, he exhausts me, he never misses a single day of practice. If we are at the ground, he will take catches every single day. So, he works hard on his bowling, also works on his batting, but when it comes to fielding, he will never sit in the dugout or never hide in the dressing room.”
On Monday, April 8, Indian Premier League took a moment to share former South Africa great Jonty Rhodes inspirational word for Bishnoi with the caption reading, “If you don’t go, you’ll never know. The secret recipe to taking blinders, just like Ravi Bishnoi took one yesterday!”
Bishnoi dismissed Kane Williamson in the eighth over to derail the GT run chase. The Indian leg-spinner flew to his right in his follow-through and stuck his right hand out to snaffle it out of thin air.
Just a reaction: Ravi Bishnoi on his brilliant catch
The Protean great then asked Bishnoi what he was thinking during the catch, which led him to take this stunner. “The added difficulty when you’re bowling, in your follow through, to react like that and catch the ball, I think the great thing about that for me was that you went backwards and gave yourself time. Often when you see an edge you kinda go across the ball and you have hard hands. To see that reaction, in less than a second, 0.6 of a second. What were you thinking, did you think?” he asked Bishnoi.
“No I didn’t think anything, I was just reacting, the ball was coming towards me, first my follow-through went left side but after that I thought I can go and get it. There’s a saying from you (Rhodes) ‘If you don’t go you never know’,” Bishnoi replied.
The KL Rahul-led LSG, who currently sitting at the third place, just below RR and KKR, will next play against Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Friday, April 12.
