Former Team India player Sadagoppan Ramesh slammed Shreyas Iyer for his decision to bowl Ravi Bishnoi in the all-important 17th over of the second T20I against England in Manchester on July 4. Chasing 191 for victory, England were struggling at 142/5 in 16 overs, with the equation reading 49 off the final 24 deliveries. However, Bishnoi bowled a poor 17th over, conceding 29 runs, thereby swinging the game completely in England’s favour and eventually completing the
run-chase in 19 overs, taking a 1-0 series lead as well.

Talking about Iyer’s captaincy, Ramesh said on his Instagram handle: “I was surprised Shreyas Iyer went to Bishnoi for the 17th over. I remember a CSK vs PBKS game where Chahal bowled three outstanding overs. Yet, Shreyas Iyer did not use his fourth over. After that match, when asked, Iyer said Dube batting prevented him from using Chahal because of matchups. He said if Dube struck two or three sixes, it would backfire on them. Yet, here there were two left-handers in Bethell and Curran. And still in English conditions with two lefties, why did Iyer go for Bishnoi?”

“Given that a spinner had to eventually bowl that over, Iyer should have front-loaded Bishnoi and finished his overs before and used one of his two other experienced spinners for the 17th over,” he shared again.

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However, Sadagoppan Ramesh also lashed out at Ravi Bishnoi for a lack of discipline with the no-balls in a torrid outing in the second T20I against England. He also bowled three-foot no-balls, including two in the costly 29-run 17th over. Bishnoi gave away 60 runs off his four overs without taking a single wicket.

“Bishnoi gifted England a game that was in India’s hands. A spinner bowling a single no-ball is a crime. But for him to bowl two in a single over, that was so crucial, lost India the game. Yes, he can say he tried to create an angle by going wide of the crease, which resulted in the no-balls. Yet, Axar Patel, who’s taller than you and uses the wide of the crease angle way more, has never made this mistake,” said Ramesh.

“T20 is such a format where a bowler has no control over the outcome once he delivers the ball. But not bowling a no-ball is in your control. Especially a spinner should never bowl a no-ball,” he concluded.