Amit Mishra hails the influential presence of Anil Kumble

32-year old Amit Mishra and his cricketing career are well and truly back on track following India’s win in the first Test at Antigua. Moreover, the fact that he has been tipped to succeed at this stage of his career simply goes on to enumerate his importance in the side.

Speaking at a press conference prior to the start of the second Test at Jamaica, the irresistible Mishra went on to laud the impact of incumbent coach Anil Kumble on the side.

“Totally motivated by the win and great feeling how we won the first Test. It was a collective effort and we did well in batting, bowling, fielding, holding catches, it was a collective and an all-around effort. I feel that we can forget that now and are now totally concentrating on the Jamaica match and for us the effort will be that we can move on from the win yet continue to do well in the coming matches.”

“Sometimes you can get the main batsmen out but the tail can wag longer and play longer. So it becomes tough to get them out because you are concentrating on the main batsmen, and the last 3-4 wickets keep on playing. So we discussed that we will look to bowl wicket taking deliveries at them so that runs are also tough to come by. The best thing was that we were able to do it and get those wickets whenever the partnerships started forming in the lower order. Similarly while batting also in the lower order we did well, batting with Ashwin we added 100-plus runs partnership and we could get 550-plus. So that put added pressure on the team like I said it was a collective effort and going well at the moment and we just have to build on it going forward.”

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“I am very lucky that Kumble is with the coaching team now and he is with me on the team now. He is a legendary bowler and when I was debuting he had retired. So I could only talk to him intermittently. Now he is with me and we are able to talk a lot more. He keeps telling me that different aspects of batting and bowling, how to bowl to tailenders and while batting in the lower order how to bring about more confidence in your own batting. So all the experience he has helps in little things. If wickets are slow, vary your pace and all.”