Amit Mishra's second coming a sight to savour

Amit Mishra’s second coming has left everyone spellbound

Most sports produce moments that elicit involuntary exclamations of amazement, and arguably, cricket churns them out more consistently owing to its intricacies. Not only does the duration of the game accommodate for such occasions, but the umpteen ways a single facet of the sport can be performed is the foremost distinguishing factor.

Take leg-spin for example. It is one of the most confounding crafts around, which partly explains the unpleasant bowling action of players practising it. And yet, if it comes out right, it makes for a joyous sight, one that inevitably instils the aforesaid sense of amazement in the viewer.

Watching Amit Mishra bowl during the ongoing T20 World Cup has been exhilarating, and judging by reactions on social media, applause has emanated from outside the Indian sub-continent too. Even Shane Warne, observing from the confines of the commentary box, was awed on a couple of counts, and when there’s a positive spontaneous reaction from a leg-spinner of his stature, it’s safe to presume Mishra isn’t humdrum.

He’s bagged the man-of-the-match award twice in four games already, leaving batsmen flummoxed with his prodigious turn and timely googlies, begging the question (that has already been splashed across a few newspapers): “Why was Amit Mishra ignored over the years?”

The simplest of explanations offered is the presence of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the side, for their repertoire houses batting abilities alongside the potent finger spin they’re endowed with.

Moreover, even on the most placid of sub-continent turfs, seldom has India employed the services of three frontline spinners at once. That is primarily why Mishra and Pragyan Ojha are often on the fringes – if only bowling capabilities are taken into equation, you’d reckon both these players are worthy enough to feature ahead of Ashwin and Jadeja; India, though, is a team that has banked heavily on its batting and the think-tank’s reasoning is hence understandable.

In his early years, Mishra was less than the finished product India had bargained for. Around the same time, Ashwin and Ojha, and later Ashwin and Jadeja, were dismantling oppositions nonchalantly on familiar pitches, relegating Mishra to the sidelines in the process.

But rather than wallowing in self-pity, he went back to the drawing board. He took the disappointments in his stride, and relentlessly worked on bettering his art. As Erapalli Prasanna noted of Mishra during his stint at the National Cricket Academy (NCA), it was the turn the latter was getting despite not being a tall man that was astounding. Mishra knew it was his strength too, and the number of revs he now imparts on the ball is evident.

Mishra will be tested in the longer formats of the game

The first sign of Mishra’s impressive second coming was during the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), where he usurped wickets and surged to the fore as Sunrisers Hyderabad’s leading wicket-taker. Having realised what made him thrive in the game’s shortest format, he stuck to his methods when he duly received a call-up to don the Indian colours again.

The head-spinning concoction of orthodox leg-breaks and googlies was unfurled during the Asia Cup and the group stages of the World Twenty20, and you’d think Mishra has now made the sojourn from being an option to a priority. However, as some have questioned, does he have a high chance of being among the wickets only in the T20 version, considering he is a wrist spinner who doesn’t refrain from pitching it on length?

A superficial examination of statistics unearths the fact that Mishra is more effective against newcomers to the crease than batsmen who are well set. In Tests, few batsmen will look to constantly wield their willows against combative turn the way the ball-bashers look to do in the shorter formats, and that’s where Mishra’s mettle will be tested.

Jadeja is not a technically adept spinner, but his ability to continually aim at the stumps holds him in good stead. Can Mishra remain similarly unfazed when there are little returns from the surface, or will he throw in the hat, like his previous self so often did? These are some questions to which answers will be available over the next few months, for Mishra has earned a spot in all formats with his recent numbers.

It’s said that making a comeback into the team is tougher than first breaking into it, and none will be more aware of it than Mishra, who’s scripted a return riding on months of effort. Here is his chance of not just flying with the team and carrying drinks on the ground, but spinning a web around the opposition with that red leather and thereby donning the deserved mantle of India’s premier spinner in all formats of the game.