He was signed by Rajasthan Royals for INR 7.20 crore.
Rajasthan Royals spinner Ravi Bishnoi was the star of the show in their recent IPL 2026 victory over Gujarat Titans on Friday. The leg-spinner claimed 4 for 41 in his four overs while defending 210, and was named the ‘Player of the Match’ as they won the last-over thriller by 6 runs.
The leg-spinner was excellent in the first game versus Chennai Super Kings as well, where he took 1 for 16 in three overs. These two performances would bode well for his confidence in the rest of the tournament as he continues to get himself back in prominence.
At one point, Ravi Bishnoi was the frontline spinner for India in white-ball cricket. But he had a couple of disappointing years at Lucknow Super Giants, falling down the pecking order. He has started this season well, showing glimpses of what made him one of the best spinners in the world a few years back.
Speaking in the post-match presentation, Bishnoi revealed the work he has put in improving his bowling. He was expensive in the last couple of years, getting hit for boundaries quite often due to missing his lengths. During the domestic season after the last IPL season, he spent months mastering his length control.
“Last season was difficult. But I tried to stick to my processes. I had one weakness: if my length was wrong then I was getting hit for fours and sixes. That’s what I was trying [to rectify]. I played a whole season of domestic cricket and worked on perfecting my lengths. Hitting my lengths made it difficult for batters – when I was too full I got hit today too,” Bishnoi said.
He did concede 41 runs in four overs against Gujarat Titans but in a high-scoring game, wickets hold higher value and Bishnoi bagged four key wickets. He dismissed their biggest threat Sai Sudharsan, who was batting well on 73 off 43 before mistiming a slightly shorter delivery. Bishnoi then removed Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips and Rahul Tewatia, putting Rajasthan Royals in a good position.
“One side of the field had a longer boundary, and they had a lot of left-hand batters, so I was trying to bowl googlies to them from middle and leg, which would make it difficult for them to go over the leg side. So the plan for the left-hand batters was to take the ball away and try to make them hit to the longer side,” he added.
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The leg-break bowler burst on to the scene in the IPL back in 2020, producing two brilliant seasons for Punjab Kings. In 2022, he was handpicked by Lucknow Super Giants as one of the pre-auction signing as a newly added franchise for INR 11 crore. Bishnoi had his best season in 2023, picking up 16 wickets at an economy of 7.83.
Turning the tide 🌊
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 4, 2026
🎥 Ravi Bishnoi's double strike that swung the momentum @rajasthanroyals' way ☝️☝️
Updates ▶️ https://t.co/6D02Fh0IHv#TATAIPL | #KhelBindaas | #GTvRR pic.twitter.com/OTboJbddRY
However, his bowling regressed in the following years. He hit the rock bottom in the previous edition, where he managed only nine wickets from 11 appearances while leaking runs at 10.83. Unsurprisingly, he was released by LSG ahead of the IPL 2026 auction. Rajasthan Royals showed their faith in him, and so far he has lived up to it.
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