Devendra Bishoo: 8 interesting things about the West Indian leg-spinner

Born, November 6, 1985, Devendra Bishoo is a leg-spinner from West Indies. He is considered a special talent and the turning point in his career came when he was handed a spot in the West Indies side n ICC World Cup 2011, however lot has changed since then. Though he remains the No.1 choice in Test cricket, Sunil Narine has overshadowed Bishoo in shorter formats. As Bishoo turns 30 today, Abhishek Kumar picks out seven facts about the Guyanese cricketer.

1.  Indian origin: Guyana has a history of producing great cricketers for West Indies. From Rohan Kanhai to Lance Gibbs to Clive Lloyd to Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the country has given West Indies many of its greatest, so Bishoo had a lot of them to look up to but he chose an art, the art of leg-spin, which not many West Indians have mastered. West Indies have historically seen emergence of players with Indian origin and Bishoo is among them.

 2.  Ball of the century? When you are a promising young leg-spinner, you are bound to draw comparison with the legendary Shane Warne. He almost replicated the Australian great with a “ball of the century” moment. Earlier in 2015, Bishoo cleaned up Brad Haddin on the second day of the first Test at Dominica, in a very identical way like Warne did to Mike Gatting with his first ever Ashes ball. Have a look at it to draw comparison.

3.  Interesting Trivia: Besides this replicating Warne’s ball, there is another interesting story. Warne’s dream delivery to Gatting came exactly 22 years back i.e. June 4, 1993. This has to be one of the most interesting co-incidences.

 4.  Saqlain Mushtaq camp: Bishoo’s credits his reason for comeback in 2015 to former Pakistani spinner Saqlain Mushtaq, who joined him in his quest when he conducted a spin camp in the Caribbean in 2013. Bishoo also said that because of Saqlain, he got more control over his line and length and added, “The whole thing [comeback and improvement] started during Saqlain’s spin camp two years ago. My action changed as I was falling earlier. I got more control over my line and length. That camp helped me to push forward. When I was at the spin camp, he [Saqlain] was getting it in my head that I had to make a comeback. He showed me a few things and started work on me.”

 5.  Fulfils father’s wish: After making his international debut in 2011, Bishoo revealed that it was his father’s wish to see him as a cricketer. But unfortunately, his father died without watching his son play in the West Indies jersey. It’s one of the regrets that Bishoo will live with.

 6.  Spanked by Umar Akmal? On his Test debut against Pakistan at his home ground in Georgetown Guyana, Umar Akmal mocked Bishoo by trying hit his backside with the bat while the latter was busy removing soil from his boot. Bishoo reacted aggressively but it went down as a funny act. Watch it.

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7.  A no ball to regret: In the final match of Caribbean Premier League 2015 between Trinidad and Tobago Red Steel (T&T) and Guyana Amazon Warriors, Bishoo was given to bowl the last over of the match, where five runs required to win the match. Till the fourth ball, the hopes were alive for Warriors as Bishoo only gave three runs and also took a wicket but in the fifth, he bowled a no ball but it was a dot but the match was tied. As the T&T required only one from the last two, their last recognised batsman Kevon Cooper ended the match with a six. Despite Bishoo’s brilliance, luck wasn’t just on his side.

8. Finest performance in Test cricket: Bishoo wrecked havoc in the first Test against Pakistan at Dubai, where he had eight scalps to his name. He spun a series of web and dismantled the star studded Pakistani batting for a mere total of 123 in the second innings. This was also his finest performance in Test cricket where he finished with figures of 8 for 49, which was also his finest in Test cricket.

(Abhishek Kumar is a cricket devotee currently staffing with Criclife.com. He can be followed at abhicricket.kumar and abhishekkr2593)