Harbhajan Singh, Ravi Bishnoi hail Suryavanshi after Rajasthan Royals’ dominant IPL win

Harbhajan Singh praised Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s explosive batting after Rajasthan Royals’ win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru, calling him a phenomenal talent. Ravi Bishnoi also lauded the youngster, saying he is currently second to none in terms of batting form and impact.

Hyderabad: JioStar expert Harbhajan Singh heaped praise on the ‘Fearless Prodigy’ Suryavanshi after the Rajasthan Royals opener decimated the Royal Challengers Bengaluru bowling attack in the IPL league match in Guwahati on Friday night.

“This is Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s time. Whenever I see him, I am glad that we are not playing anymore. He is a phenomenal batsman. What bat speed, and yes, he attacks at the beginning, but when required, he also has the game to take singles and doubles and rotate the strike,” the former India off-spinner said.

---

“What an unreal talent. He plays proper cricketing shots. That arm extension while driving helps him play towards mid-wicket, behind square, and even in front of the wicket. You can’t call him a slogger. Sloggers score once in a while, and he is scoring everywhere he goes. Everyone saw it in the Under-19 World Cup recently. We saw it against Bumrah, yes, he hit him for a six on the first ball, but the next ball he just defended. His basics are solid and he has a good technique, which is just unbelievable for a 15-year-old,” Harbhajan said.

For his part, Royals leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi says that right now Suryvanshi is second to none the way he is batting.

Speaking on a special show on JioHotstar after Royals outplayed defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Friday night, Bishnoisaid Vaibhav targets each of them (Royals bowlers) in the nets. “I keep saying in the dressing room that I am really thankful that he is in our team. It doesn’t matter if I get hit in the nets. When he took a single off Krunal bhai’s first ball, we were all in disbelief because usually he goes after left-arm spinners from ball one. But outstanding, the way he is batting at the moment, it’s second to none,” the leg-spinner said.

“We are really happy because we have won four out of four and are the table-toppers. Hopefully, we will continue to play the brand of cricket that we are playing. We are playing some good cricket and performing as a team,” Bishnoi said.

“It’s not like one or two players are performing. The starts we are getting with the bat, we will keep finishing games quickly. Winning always makes a difference to a team atmosphere. It remains ultra-positive. Most of us are in the same age group, so we understand each other very well, and I think that is creating a big difference for this team,” he explained.

On the technical changes he made to his run-up and action, Bishnoi said: “Technically, I just made one slight change. I used to start a bit far away from the umpire, due to which the diagonal run-up that I used to have had stopped, and I was bowling with a normal jump. I don’t have much idea about the use of the crease, but I have worked on my USP, which is the jump-start from outside in the run-up.”

“ As far as my action is concerned, my non-bowling arm keeps getting stuck. I tried to improve it, but it’s still happening. Last year, I was bowling with a very heavy front foot. So, these are two or three small technical things I have worked on and am still working on. It isn’t as clean as I want it to be, a few things still seem to be missing, but hopefully that will get better as I go ahead,” he said.