“I feel I need to bring something extra” - Ravi Bishnoi names Indian star as toughest batter after IPL 2025

India and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) spinner Ravi Bishnoi has named southpaw Abhishek Sharma as the toughest batter to bowl to. During Match 61 of IPL 2025 between SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) and LSG, Abhishek showcased his dominance by smashing Bishnoi for four consecutive sixes.

In their overall T20 matchups, Abhishek has hammered 37 runs off just eight balls against the leg-spinner, striking at a staggering rate of 462.5. Bishnoi, who recently appeared on the YouTube podcast Game Changers released on Sunday, August 31, was asked about the toughest batter he has faced. He responded:

“Right now, I think Abhishek Sharma is batting really well. Against him, I feel I need to bring something extra from my side. As a leg-spinner, I feel he plays me quite well. He has worked very hard in the off-season, and even now you can see him putting in the effort day in and day out. The way he is batting, I always think about how I can improve against him. I keep trying to figure out how I can get better when I bowl to such good batters.”

Abhishek Sharma has represented India in 17 T20Is, scoring 535 runs at an average of 33.43 and a strike rate of 193.84. His tally includes two half-centuries and two centuries.

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“When he plays, you only see him" - Ravi Bishnoi’s massive praise for Yashasvi Jaiswal

In the same interaction, Ravi Bishnoi also spoke about Yashasvi Jaiswal. The 24-year-old heaped praise on the southpaw, highlighting his ability to consistently score runs.

He pointed out Jaiswal’s remarkable performance in the 2020 U-19 World Cup, where the opener finished as the tournament’s highest run-getter with 400 runs in six innings at an average of 133.33, which included four fifties and a century. Bishnoi said:

“You must have seen, in the Under-19 tournament he was the Player of the Series. The way he played, even in the final he was the one who scored the runs. Before that, he had scored a hundred against Pakistan, so that has always made him stand out. Because when he plays, you only see him, no one else around him. That is his art, and his command over his game is excellent.”

“Once, in a conversation, he told me, ‘If I feel that 20 runs can be scored in this over, then I want 20 runs in it. I cannot compromise for less.’ That really impressed me. Even if 18 or 19 runs come, he insists, ‘No, no, I had said three boundaries, so there must be three.’ That shows his hunger, that he cannot settle for less. He wants the full thing that he feels is his,” he added.

Yashasvi Jaiswal has represented India in 48 matches across formats, scoring 2,947 runs at an average of 45.33, which includes 17 half-centuries and seven centuries.