Amit Mishra

Amit Mishra is a leg spinner who plays for Haryana in the Ranji Trophy. Mishra, who bowls with a lovely loop and nagging accuracy, has a sharply spinning leg break which happens to be his stock delivery. He also has the top spinner, and a well disguised wrong-un. He was initially called into the Indian squad for the Test series against the West Indies in 2002, but was not given a chance to play. After that he was not picked until 2007 when he was drafted in to play against the South African A side in 2007. Immediately he made an impact, taking 5 wickets in that game and he soon came into the national reckoning with some consistent performances.

Mishra was picked up by the Delhi Daredevils to play in the IPL and that is where he shone, by taking a hat-trick in a game against the Deccan Chargers. He displayed a fine temperament, and was not afraid to give the ball a rip. Mishra contributed well in IPL-1 for Delhi by taking 14 wickets in 11 games and soon he was knocking on the doors of the national side. He went to Australia to play the Emerging Players' tournament in Brisbane and starred with the ball as India emerged victorious.

Mishra was selected in the Indian squad to play the visiting Aussies in 2008 and he got his opportunity to make his debut at Mohali when Anil Kumble got injured. He took 5 wickets in the first innings - making him only the sixth Indian to have a fifer on debut. He added a further 2 wickets in the second to finish with 7 for the match. Mishra played in the next 2 games as well finishing with 14 wickets in the series.

Mishra became the leading leg-spinner in the country after Anil Kumble retired and picked up a further 6 wickets in the 2-Test series against England in December 2008. When India toured New Zealand he was left out of the side as the seam friendly wickets did not allow for a second spinner in the squad. Mishra bowled well without much luck in the second edition of the IPL as his side were knocked out by a 'Gilly' storm in the semi-final.

Mishra last played for India, in a Test match, in 2011 when India were beaten 0-4 at England on their way to gaining the number one spot in Test cricket. However, he registered his highest Test score of 84 in the last Test. Mishra has been in and out of the ODI squads for a while but has not been able to make it to the Test squad again. He was thought to be Anil Kumble's successor but has not been able to keep up his reputation.

Mishra represented the Deccan Chargers and later went on to play for the Sun Risers Hyderabad in IPL. He has been a consistent performer in the league and the only IPL player to take three hat-tricks. He had a fantastic 2013 season for them as he picked up 21 wickets and played a key-role in most of the Sun Risers' wins. His strong performance in the IPL earned him a ODI call-back for the Champions Trophy in June and later for the Zimbabwe tour in July 2013. He was brilliant against Zimbabwe and equalled Javagal Srinath's world record for the most wickets in a bilateral ODI series with 18 wickets. He achieved this feat in just five games compared to Srinath's seven. However, he played only one match in the 5-match ODI series against Australia in October/November 2013. Mishra was later picked up for the 3-match ODI series against West Indies and was also named as a part of the ODI squad touring South Africa in December 2013. He played a couple of games in the 2014 Asia Cup and impressed everyone. He couldn't play the entire Ranji season as he was part of the national side, but he did well in the opportunities that he got. After his impressive show in 2013, Sunrisers Hyderabad bought him back for the 2014 edition. He played all the games in the 2014 T20 WC, in the first two matches Mishra picked 2 for 22 against Pakistan and 2 for 18 against West Indies, these two performances earned him the Man of the Match award. However, he was not able to perform under pressure situations as he went for plenty in the semi-final and the final which India eventually lost to Sri Lanka.

In the absence of the injured Jadeja on the 2015 tour of Sri lanka, Mishra played a fine fiddle to Ashwin, finishing the series with 15 wickets. However, lack of opportunities thereafter began to hinder his progress. Mishra featured in just two home Tests against South Africa, two against West Indies and just two against England. While Mishra continues to chip in with useful contributions, the presence of Ashwin and Jadeja has severely limited his opportunities at the highest level. The emergence of Jayant Yadav as an all-round option has left Mishra the fourth choice spinner, despite having lasted longer than Ashwin.

by Srivathsa
As of March 2014