Rise of the Wrong Un’ Amit Mishra

Amit Mishra is a name in Indian cricket floating around form the turn of the decade. Right from the year 2000 he was considered to be a future prospect of Indian cricket and spin bowling to be specific. The rise of the Wrong un’ Amit Mishra as a regular in the playing XI of the Indian team took longer than usual.

India had Anil Kumble then with his services to offer as a leg spinner and one could not look at someone else till we had him. Harbhajan Singh rose along and played the part of his lieutenant in tests and second choice in ODI’s for India. The duo did it for India on every occasion and left no crack unfilled for the selectors to look beyond them. He was there in the back ground giving his duties to Haryana his home team in the domestic circuit.

An orthodox leg spinner with instinct to attack the batsmen with his turning deliveries, the ones that moved away was his weapon of mass destruction. The googly his disguised missile that would go past the opponents defenses without getting traced. Mishra is someone who is never afraid of tossing it up, giving the ball some air doing which you are bound to be hit for a few runs but you will also pick up wickets.

Amit stayed around kept delivering for Haryana and was picked in the IPL; his stint for the Sun Risers Hyderabad particularly did huge good to his reputation. He was their go to bowler, tough situations, big hitting batsmen, he got through them all. It was the point when he earned himself enough points to be included in the Indian team.

By that time India had already moved from Harbhajan Singh who has now become talk of history to R Ashwin who had a lot of mystery and variation in his bowling. More struggle followed, he got a few chances to play for India and when he did he performed but, with the rise of IPL and T20 cricket the game had brutalized enough for a conventional bowler to be hit apart. He would get hit for runs and so India did not show enough faith in him to continue with him for long. In and out of the side he kept dismissing batsmen, renovating his bowling.

Amit Mishra is now a different bowler; he will assess the situation, give the ball the loop it deserves, pick wickets and not get hit. He has made the transformation himself, he watches the batsmen till the moment he delivers the ball and any change in his position and the length of the ball is changed even at the last moment.

The difference in his stats in the Indian Premier League and for India in ODI’s is perfect to tell you the difference.

He has 40 wickets in 23 ODI’s with an healthy ave of  22.77 for India (Best bowling figures 6/48)

In the 13 test matches for India he has taken 43 wickets with 1 5 wicket haul against his name and in the IPL he has played 76 games for 95 dismissals and only Lasith Maligna is ahead of him with 103 dismissals.

Amit Mishra is in the purple patch of his international career. He was played as the third spinner in the team, he turned it around with his bowling to become Indias’leading wicket taker in the world T20 2014. With 9 wickets in 4 matches and two Man of the Match awards.

The success he has had in the IPL prompted the management to include him in the team for the World T20 in Bangladesh were the pitches would suit his style. He has delivered well on expectations and has been the best bowler in the Indian lot. One could describe him the person who brought in the balance and teeth that Indian bowling missed. India’s bowling unit which was called its biggest weakness, the weight that would sink the ship is sailing high speed due to Mishra’s path breaking performance.

This is the rise of Amit Mishra the Wrond Un’ as it is the ball he relies most to get him rid of the one who comes in between his ball and its target (the stumps).