Top 5 bowling variations used by Amit Mishra
Leg-spin bowling is perhaps one of the most difficult arts to master in the game of cricket. What makes the going tougher for leggies is the fact that the batsmen tend to attack them from the very outset in an attempt to gather some quick runs.
Therefore, it becomes imperative for the practitioners of this trade to develop variations which can help them gain an upper hand. Legendary Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne did this exceptionally well and it turned out to be a key reason behind his phenomenal success.
Amit Mishra, the experienced Indian leggie, may be getting limited opportunities in international cricket but he has shown time and again how effective he can be with his variations, particularly in the IPL. A lot of them have also been on display in the ongoing ODI series against New Zealand
Here are the top 5 variations that Mishra has in his armoury:
#1 Googly
Just like is the case for any other leg-spinner, the googly is one of Amit Mishra’s primary weapons and has fetched him a lot of wickets so far. It is one variation that Mishra uses quite frequently as he bowls it in almost every over that he delivers, irrespective of the format that he is playing.
The googly or ‘wrong-un’ refers to a delivery which spins into the right-handed batsman as opposed to the conventional leg-spinner which turns away. In a group game against the West Indies in the 2014 World T20, the Haryana leggie bowled a brilliant googly which caught Dwayne Bravo plumb in front for a first-ball duck.