Bengaluru: Indian bowler Ravi Bishnoi celebrates the wicket of Australian batter Aaron Hardie during the 5th T20I cricket match between India and Australia, at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, in Bengaluru, Sunday, Dec. 3, 2023. 

Ravi Bishnoi had just seen a 98.8 kmph full-length ball slog-swept for a six by Travis Head in the final T20 game. Next ball, he ratcheted the pace even further, going beyond the 100 mark and flung in his quick-arm slider off a good length on the middle-stump line. The left-handed Head arrested his tiny forward-step, pressed back, and had a defensive waft at it. But there was no time for jail-break; it all happened in a flash. The led lights lit up as the bails flew, beaten by the pace and the slider that had the ball crashing onto the off stump.

Bishnoi doesn’t deal in surprises, but does the job by repetition. It was his trademark delivery – the flat, skidding, tilting into the right-handers at some pace, and it has repeatedly done the job for him in the limited-over series against Australia.