‘Didn’t expect it so early’

– Devendra Bishoo says of his selection to the West Indies’ 30-man World Cup squad

By Avenash Ramzan 

Leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo was as surprised as he was elated at his call-up to the West Indies’ 30-man provisional squad for the 50-Over World Cup competition to be played on the sub-continent of India next year. 

Bishoo’s name is among the probables from which the final 14 would be chosen to represent the region in the prestigious event. The event will be hosted by India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh from February 19 to April 2. 

“I was training very hard, focusing on my fitness and so on, with the hope of getting a call-up some day, but I didn’t expect it to come so early,” the 25-year-old Berbician from Albion, Corentyne, told this publication yesterday. Bishoo made his first-class debut against the Combined Campuses and Colleges in the 2008 season. He has captured 71 wickets from 18 matches, at a commendable average of 28.70, with four fivers and one ten-wicket haul. 

In ten List A (One Day) games, he has picked up 25 wickets at a remarkable average of 12.64, with career best figures of 6-36; while his nine T20 games have yielded 16 wickets at 13.06 apiece. 

He was Guyana’s top bowler in all formats of the game this year, and did his chances of getting a senior call-up to the Caribbean side no harm when he delivered some impressive performances for the West Indies ‘A’ team. 

Such was Bishoo’s dominance with the ball this year that he was adjudged Cricketer-of-the-Year by the Guyana Cricket Board. “I didn’t do anything different this year. I just try to stick to the basics, and it paid off,” Bishoo said of his most successful year in the game. 

According to the Internet site, www.cricinfo.com, “Devendra Bishoo is a leg-spinner who has risen through the ranks since his debut in the 2008 season, and is considered a West Indies prospect. 

Cutting his teeth at the first-class level, he courted immediate success, snaring four five-wicket hauls. He even snared one ten-wicket haul in one match in his first couple of seasons. 

His attacking style of bowling had a major impact in the 2010 Caribbean T20 tournament, where he finished with ten wickets in four games at the mean average of 8.20, conceding just 5.12 runs an over. 

His Man-of-the-Series award in that tournament tipped him as one of the players to watch out for in the Champions League. 

At the league in South Africa earlier this year, he was Guyana’s leading bowler, and picked up the prized wicket of the “Little Master”, Sachin Tendulkar, in the match against the Mumbai Indians.