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Amit Mishra’s chance to stamp his authority in the Visakhapatnam decider

In these days of mystery tweakers, Amit Mishra belongs to rare breed of classical leg-spin who relies on loop and drift.

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Amit Mishra (left) has combined well with MS Dhoni in this series. (Courtesy: AFP)

The Virat Kohli onslaught at Mohali must have hurt the New Zealand egos. Martin Guptill must have gone back to his hotel room and watched videos of exploits that he is capable of inflicting or at least evident in the way he started at Ranchi. New Zealand, who by now were used to seeing Guptill back in the pavilion within 10 overs, had now raced to 80 for no loss after 10 overs. Enters our protagonist — Amit Mishra. Two runs (a wide and a single) came from that over and Guptill, who was 43 off 34 then, was kept quiet for four balls. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs New Zealand, 4th ODI at Ranchi

Mishra tossed it up and brought down the pace. The wicket being on the slower side made it difficult for the batsmen who until now had been scoring freely. This dose of intelligence usually comes with experience. This makes Mishra special. His first spell of 3-0-9-0 stifled the run flow. New Zealand were 94 after 15 overs. Akshar Patel kept it tight from the other end. Tom Latham decided to go after the man with lesser variation and fell to Patel. Yes. Even spinners hunt in pair. New Zealand, once set for 330, were restricted to 260.

Another 15 overs, Mishra was back into the attack. MS Dhoni knew he did not have Jasprit Bumrah and his ace spinner would have to bowl in the death. At that point of time New Zealand’s two senior-most batters Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor were going strong and the run rate was close to five and half. Williamson had begun to counterattack Mishra and smacked two good boundaries. In the third over of his second spell, he beat Williamson with the extra bounce as he edged an attempted cut to Dhoni’s hand.

In his next over he forced New Zealand’s Mohali hero Jimmy Neesham into playing shot over cover. The length was good. It deceived Neesham, who hit it straight to Kohli at cover. Mishra ended his spell in the 44th over and finished with 10-0-42-2. The two wickets the changed the game’s course and proved to be the difference between the projected score and the reality.

Not a certainty

The beautiful loop and the turn that foxed Taylor at Mohali turned the game in India’s favour. Beautifully tossed up, Taylor was into believing that he could use his feet and place it in the midwicket region for a single but the leather landed on leg and spun sharply towards Dhoni, who with his electric glovework completed the formality of dislodging the bails.

Mishra has bagged 10 wickets from 4 games in the series at 19.70. He leads the bowling charts for this series. But has he cemented a regular place in this side?

Random facts: Mishra is the most successful Indian bowler in IPL. He has 124 wickets.

Leg-spinners W(Test) Ave(Test) W(ODI) Ave(ODI) Econ(ODI)
Yasir Shah 112 27.27 18 42.55 5.41
Imran Tahir 57 40.24 111 23.44 4.65
Amit Mishra 71 34.36 59 25.30 4.76

It can be concluded that the best leg-spinner in Test cricket is Yasir Shah but Mishra has a far better bowling record than him in ODIs. Meanwhile, Imran Tahir is the best leggie in ODIs and Mishra is several notches ahead of him in Test cricket.

In these days of mystery tweakers, Mishra belongs to rare breed of classical leg-spin who relies on loop and drift. Leg-spinners can be assets to side because of their usual guile and attacking approach but the question lies: Had Mishra even played a game in this series if Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were available?

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Mishra remains underrated and over the years has not enjoyed Dhoni’s confidence as much as Kohli’s, who has brought him back to Test cricket. Mishra was exceptional in ICC World T20 2014. As India’s sojourn ended as runners-up then, Mishra with 10 wickets at 14.70 and economy rate of 6.68 was exceptional. After the final against Sri Lanka at Dhaka, his next T20I came two-and-half years later.

Mishra’s comeback in ODIs was no less than a fairytale. As the Kohli-led outfit whitewashed Zimbabwe in 2013, Mishra claimed 18 wickets from 5 matches at 11.61. When Australia toured India that October, he got to play only 1 ODI (that too the sixth one) — a run-fest in Nagpur where he went for 78 from his 10 overs. India chased down 351 but Mishra, who had claimed a six-for in his previous international, was forgotten for a while. He was even overlooked for ICC World Cup 2015.

With leg-spin there is always a danger of leaking too many runs but that is how the game is. The word ‘patience’ comes here. Not every bowler is a Shane Warne, who could afford to go for runs in attempt to claim sticks. Leg-spinners are confidence bowlers. It is a tough ask to ask them to excel with the axe looming over.

Zimbabwe are minnows, are they not? Mishra critics will harp on this fact. Agreed, with his experience he is expected to do well against a visiting New Zealand. Even if we remove the Zimbabwean exploits, his bowling average still wears a better look than Ashwin and Jadeja; one must remember he only makes sporadic appearances. His ODI debut came in a different era, a year and half before Dhoni’s, in 2003.

In fact, here is the list of best averages for bowlers with 50 and more wickets for India:

Bowler ODIs W Ave BB Econ
Mohammed Shami 47 87 24.89 4/35 5.54
Amit Mishra 35 59 25.30 6/48 4.76
Kapil Dev 225 253 27.45 5/43 3.71
Ajit Agarkar 191 288 27.85 6/42 5.07
Javagal Srinath 229 315 28.08 5/23 4.44

Among spin bowlers Mishra leads the chart:

Bowler ODIs W Ave BB Econ
Amit Mishra 35 59 25.30 6/48 4.76
Anil Kumble 269 334 30.83 6/12 4.29
Maninder Singh 59 66 31.30 4/22 3.95
R Ashwin 102 142 31.73 4/25 4.85
V Raju 53 63 31.96 4/46 4.36

An India spinner with an average in the mid-20s is surreal, but still his place in the side is not assured.

Mishra’s fielding is a concern though. He has been putting the required efforts but the dropped catch of Guptill could have proved costly. He is a slow mover and like Ashwin, that is one area he will have to work on. Otherwise batting is no concern. He is more than a handy customer in the lower-order. He has played some vital knocks in Test cricket and his only hundred in First-Class cricket is a double ton. Along with Akshar, he almost won India the fourth ODI.

An opportunity

There is a cyclone threat at Visakhapatnam ahead of the decider. However, if the match does take place, India have an opportunity to win an ODI series. India’s last series win against a major ODI series came in November 2014 when they whitewashed Sri Lanka 5-0.

If India do not win, Mishra’s stellar show so far will be forgotten but if he plays a major role in dismantling the New Zealand batting on Saturday, he will present a strong case for himself in the full-strength playing XI as India strengthen their unit for ICC Champions Trophy 2017.

(Suvajit Mustafi consumes cricket for lunch, fiction for dinner and munches numerous other snacks throughout the day. Yes, a jack of several trades, all Suvajit dreamt of was being India’s World Cup winning skipper but ended up being a sports writer, author, screenwriter, director, copywriter, graphic designer, sportsmarketer , strategist, entrepreneur,  philosopher and traveller. Donning so many hats, it’s cricket which gives him the ultimate high and where he finds solace. He can be followed at @RibsGully and facebook.com/rivu7)

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