Ravi Bishnoi’s Shocking Turnaround: India’s Secret Fix

In Harare on July 24, 2026, Ravi Bishnoi bowled four overs and gave away just 24 runs. Clean. Controlled. Exactly what India needed.

Three weeks earlier, the same bowler, the same four overs, gave away 60 runs. Jacob Bethell hit him for 29 in a single over at Old Trafford.

Same bowler. Same format. Completely different results. So what changed between Manchester and Harare?

One small fix to his run-up. And the story of how that fix happened tells you everything about what elite spin bowling actually requires.

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The Over That Nobody Wants to Remember

Old Trafford, Manchester. England vs India. Jacob Bethell walks to the crease and faces Ravi Bishnoi.

What followed was the kind of over that fast-forwards careers in the wrong direction. Bethell hit Bishnoi for 29 runs in that single over. By the time the spell was done, the figures read 4-0-60-0. Four overs. Sixty runs. Zero wickets.

For context: 15 runs an over is considered expensive in T20 cricket. Bishnoi was going at exactly 15 runs per over across that entire spell — and in that one Bethell over, the rate was even worse.

The numbers weren’t just bad. They were the kind of bad that gets talked about in team meetings. The kind that coaching staff quietly circle on their notepads and carry into the next series.

Bishnoi didn’t hide from it. Neither did India’s coaching staff. And that honesty is what made the turnaround in Zimbabwe possible.

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What Joshi Saw

When India landed in Zimbabwe for a three-match T20I series starting July 23, 2026, bowling coach Morne Morkel was unavailable. Sunil Joshi stepped in as the stand-in bowling coach — and it was Joshi who identified exactly what had gone wrong in Manchester.

It wasn’t Bishnoi’s grip. It wasn’t his flight or his googly. It was his run-up.

Specifically, where Bishnoi’s feet were landing as he approached the crease.

Joshi explained that Bishnoi “has re-aligned the run-up a bit” — and that after the adjustment, Bishnoi was “not even going close to the return crease.” In spin bowling, the angle at which you approach the crease changes everything: the angle of release, the drift the ball gets through the air, and the position from which a batter has to judge the delivery. If a spinner drifts too far toward the return crease — the line running down the side of the pitch — they lose that angle. The ball comes from a narrower corridor. Batters read it more easily. And when a batter like Bethell is in the kind of form he was in Manchester, even a small misalignment gets punished severely.

India also brought in spin bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule as part of the fix — so this wasn’t a one-coach observation. Multiple specialist eyes looked at the same problem and agreed on the same solution.

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What the Numbers in Harare Actually Mean

4 overs. 24 runs. 1 wicket.

That’s Bishnoi’s return on July 24, 2026, in the first T20I against Zimbabwe in Harare. Compare it directly to the Manchester figures: 4 overs, 60 runs, 0 wickets.

The economy rate dropped from 15 per over to 6 per over. That is not a marginal improvement. That is a completely different bowler — or more accurately, the same bowler bowling from the right angle.

The wicket column also opened. Zero wickets in Manchester. One in Harare. In T20 cricket, wickets and economy are both currency. Bishnoi spent his Manchester spell burning through both. In Harare, he was earning them back.

Joshi described the adjustment as “pleasing” — for both Bishnoi and the coaching staff. That word matters. “Pleasing” from a bowling coach isn’t about one good day. It means the fix held up under match conditions. The run-up stayed aligned. The release point stayed consistent. The problem that showed up in Manchester didn’t resurface in Zimbabwe.

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Why This Story Is Bigger Than One Series

The involvement of Sairaj Bahutule alongside Joshi is the detail that tends to get lost in the headline numbers — and it shouldn’t.

Morkel’s absence could have meant a reduced technical eye on India’s spin options during the Zimbabwe series. Instead, the coaching setup expanded. Joshi, the stand-in, reached out to Bahutule, a specialist, and together they diagnosed a run-up misalignment that had cost India 36 extra runs in a single T20I spell. That kind of collaborative response to a technical problem — across roles, without ego — is not standard in high-pressure touring environments.

It also reframes what the Zimbabwe series actually was. On paper, a three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe reads as low-stakes. In practice, it became the window in which a real technical flaw was identified, corrected, and confirmed under match conditions. The Bethell over at Old Trafford was expensive. But the real cost would have been carrying that misalignment into bigger tournaments without addressing it. The fact that Bishnoi’s coaching team identified and corrected the issue within weeks shows a level of technical attention that doesn’t always get talked about when people discuss India’s bowling depth.

Ravi Bishnoi didn’t need a new action. He needed his feet to land in a slightly different place. And the people watching closely enough to spot that difference are as much a part of this story as the bowler himself.

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Final Thought

The gap between 4-0-60-0 and 4-0-24-1 is, technically, a few inches of run-up adjustment. But those few inches represent something larger: the difference between a bowler who gets written off after one bad series and one who gets rebuilt for the next challenge. Sunil Joshi and Sairaj Bahutule didn’t overhaul Ravi Bishnoi — they re-aligned him. That distinction matters, because the next time Jacob Bethell faces Bishnoi, he won’t be facing the same bowler who ran in from the wrong angle at Old Trafford. He’ll be facing the version that figured it out in Harare.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did Ravi Bishnoi get hit for 60 runs in 4 overs against England?
Ravi Bishnoi conceded 60 runs in 4 overs at Old Trafford, including 29 runs in a single over from Jacob Bethell, largely due to a flaw in his run-up affecting his delivery consistency.

What change did India’s coaches make to fix Ravi Bishnoi’s bowling?
Stand-in bowling coach Sunil Joshi identified a problem with where Bishnoi’s feet were landing during his run-up and corrected it, leading to a much-improved performance in Zimbabwe.

How did Ravi Bishnoi perform in Zimbabwe after his poor spell against England?
After the coaching adjustment, Bishnoi bowled four controlled overs in Harare on July 24, 2026, conceding just 24 runs — a dramatic improvement from his 60-run spell in Manchester.

Recommended Reading

Explore these hand-picked resources to dive deeper into this topic:

• The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle
• Mindset by Carol S. Dweck
• Cricket Coaching Video Series (Professional training content)

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Sources

• https://m.rediff.com/amp/cricket/report/zimbabwe-vs-india-t20i-series-sunil-joshi-reveals-how-ravi-bishnoi-regained-form-after-england-horror/20260724.htm
• https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/cricket/how-ravi-bishnoi-resolved-no-ball-issue-sunil-joshi-explains-10802072/lite/
• https://www.ptinews.com/detail/sports/Bishnoi-has-realigned-his-run-up-Sunil-Joshi-on-leg-spinner-s-better-outing-against-Zimbabwe/3895678
• https://www.mid-day.com/amp/sports/cricket/article/ind-vs-zim-2nd-t20i-team-india-bowling-coach-sunil-joshi-speaks-about-ravi-bishnoi-run-up-ahead-of-clash-23641440
• https://www.yardbarker.com/cricket/articles/ravi_bishnoi_to_work_with_sunil_joshi_to_fix_back_foot_no_ball_issue_ahead_of_zimbabwe_tour/s1_17728_44067508