Amit Mishra confident of good showing against South Africa
Amit Mishra is confident of a good show when India take on South Africa in the upcoming series, IBNLive reports. The leg-spinner also talked about his bowling partnership with Ravichandran Ashwin and revealed the secret behind his improved performances with the bat.
South Africa and India face off over a two-month period in three T20s, five ODIs, and four Test matches as the visitors look to preserve their record of not losing an away series since 2006. Mishra acknowledged that the series will be a challenging one, but is confident about India’s chances as well.
“The series will be challenging, but we also have a very good ODI team. All players have been performing out of their skins for quite some time," Mishra said.
Legends like Barry Richards and Sourav Ganguly have spoken about the pitch being a crucial factor in the series, but Mishra insisted that the home team is only focussed on delivering their best performances.
"I can't talk much about the playing condition, don't know what sort of conditions we will get to play. Instead of focusing on it, we are focusing on putting up a good show," he said.
The words of confidence seem to emanate from the fact that India recently won their first overseas Test series in four years when they beat Sri Lanka 2-1. That was skipper Virat Kohli’s first wins as Test skipper and with the Indian team, including ODI skipper MS Dhoni, currently preparing for the series against the Proteas at the National Cricket Academy, Mishra is of the opinion that the morale has only gotten better.
"The team's morale has been kept high with Dhoni and Virat supporting the players, which only boosts their confidence," he said.
Mishra talks about partnership with Ashwin and his improved performances with the bat
Mishra played a key role in that series victory picking up 15 wickets and scoring more than 150 runs in what was his comeback series after a four-year hiatus from the national team. He forged a formidable partnership with off-spinner Ashwin, who picked up 21 wickets and earned the Man of the Series award.
Mishra acknowledged that they have been bowling well together but is not too concerned as to who takes more wickets.
"I and Ashwin, hunt in tandem and there has been no problem as yet. Bowling in tandem doesn't mean both should pick wickets. It is about keeping pressure from one end when the other guy is picking up wickets for the team," Mishra said.
The 32-year-old also claimed that he is not much concerned about his place in the team but added that he is constantly trying to improve as a player.
“Any professional player should not, and I for one don't think whether I am in the team or not in it, instead I focus on improving my bowling and of late, batting. I have been doing this for the last four years, which has helped me improve my game which was reflected in my performances during Sri Lanka series," he said
Mishra credited his captaincy stint with his state team Uttar Pradesh as the reason he has improved with his batting.
“My stint as Uttar Pradesh captain helped me improve my batting. I always expected my bowlers to contribute 50 to 60 odd runs, which could be crucial at the end of the match. Being a captain, I took the lead of shouldering the responsibility of making runs along with tail-enders. I have taken this forward into the Indian team,” Mishra said.