I was looking to ‘confuse’ the batsmen: Amit Mishra

Indian leg-spinner Amit Mishra had a good outing in the warm-up match, who managed to grab four wickets against West Indies President’s XI on a track which doesn’t offer much for the spinners. He finished with figures of 27-5-67-4.

His teammate Rohit Sharma said that “You can’t do anything on a track like that”. When asked about his performance, he said, “I am happy with my performance as bowling on this track was very difficult. To get my bowling rhythm back on a slow batting track is a good sign. We had a good practice game as we had batted well yesterday and also bowled well today.”

He said that he was trying to vary his pace and ‘confuse’ the batsmen. “I didn’t want them to know at what speed I was bowling. I was also mixing up my deliveries; bowling straighter ones in between and turning the rest. I am very happy that on a slow wicket I could dismiss four batsmen,” the veteran leg-spinner added.

Mishra said that the head coach, Anil Kumble’s experience will help him and the team do better since Kumble has a lot of experience in bowling on these tracks. “Anil bhai is with us (as Head Coach) and his experience is going to matter a lot. He has played here and he keeps telling us about the conditions. We will utilize his experience and form a strategy together.”

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His daily routine of bowling 2 hours at the nets helps him improve his control over the leg-spin. “I bowl about two hours daily in the nets and also bowl with one stump for another half hour so that I do not lose my accuracy.”

“There are times when as a bowler you do not get the desired rhythm and in those times your leg spin (stock ball) must land perfectly. I bowl a lot in the nets and that is the reason why I have been able to be more accurate,” he added.

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In IPL, he has been seen bowling seam-up delivery and when asked about whether he will use that in the upcoming Test series, he said, “Definitely. If there is a need to try that out, I will not hesitate. Test cricket is very different from limited overs, so If feels I may not be required to bowl that kind of a delivery.”

The 33-year old also praised the Test skipper Virat Kohli saying that he has created a positive environment within the team. When asked about him batting for long hours in the nets, “If you create 40-50 runs stand lower down the order, it helps your captain and the team. I am focusing on my batting as well as it is important to contribute with the bat,” he concluded.