Amit Mishra

Amit Mishra Biography

‘Born in a wrong era’ or ‘simply not the luckiest’ are phrases that can be easily associated with Amit Mishra, a classical attacking leg-break bowler, who, despite the odd international hiccup, has remained the backbone of his sides in domestic cricket. More than a decade after his international debut, Mishra has found a captain in Virat Kohli, a bowler longs for.

Mishra was one of the young cricketers who broke into the national side immediately after ICC World Cup 2003. However, with the giants Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh in top form, Mishra’s international outings were limited to 3 ordinary ODI outings, followed by a five-year hiatus before his impressive Test debut, where he picked a fifer against the strong visiting Australians, and post that he was expected to carry the leg-spin baton from the prolific Kumble. Not an easy job, certainly.

Though not given a longer rope, Mishra did not particularly impress in the limited shows before fading away from the top scene as the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha and Ravindra Jadeja emerged. He continued to excel in the domestic scene and IPL, where he is the most successful Indian bowler. In fact, he is the only bowler in the IPL to claim 3 hat-tricks.

Again a fringe player for years in limited-overs cricket, Mishra despite some stellar shows managed only sporadic appearances. His armoury contains big leg-breaks, deceptive googlies and luring flights, and most importantly an astute mind, which cognise the apt use of the artilleries.

He may not have enjoyed the status of being India’s premier spin bowler but had his moments of overshadowing brilliances. In 2013, he claimed 18 at 11.61 in 5 ODIs against Zimbabwe, and in doing so, he equalised Javagal Srinath’s record for most wickets in a bilateral series. In ICC World T20 2014, he continued his good show and bagged two back-to-back Man of the Match awards.

Mishra’s crucial renaissance came under Kohli, a leader who has a liking to attack with leg-spin. Kohli’s faith in Mishra saw the latter being recalled in the Test side after four years. He excelled in Sri Lanka and against South Africa at home; he went on to trouble AB de Villiers, often foxing the genius and dismissing him twice. In 2015, he claimed 22 Test wickets from 5 Tests at 15.72.

An important member of the current Indian setup, Mishra’s batting is a bonus. His 84 in an attempt to avoid an innings defeat against a potent English bowling attack at The Oval spoke a lot of his fighting spirit. His reliable all-round abilities provide the team management the luxury to field five bowlers. And yes, his First-Class highest score is 202 not out.

Suvajit Mustafi

Amit Mishra Batting & Fielding Averages

Career

Avg

100s

50s

Test

ODIs

T20s

World Cup

Amit Mishra Bowling Averages

Career	M	B	R	W	Avg	EC	SR	5WI	10WM	BBI	BBM
Test	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
ODIs	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
T20s	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
World Cup	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--		--