‘Katich’s wicket was very special’

India’s leg-spinner Amit Mishra, who took five wickets against Australia in Mohali, speaks to P. K. Ajith Kumar on his dream debut, his triumphs and disappointments.

“One player from our team has been named in the Indian Test squad,” said Dav Whatmore, looking at Amit Mishra. It was the afternoon of October 1 at Chepauk in Chennai. Mishra smiled. He had just heard what he had been waiting to hear for the last six years.

“We (India ‘A’ team) were playing New Zealand ‘A’ in a four-day match while the Indian Test team was being announced,” Mishra said, looking back at one of the happiest moments of his life. “I can’t describe how I felt when Whatmore, our coach, broke the news to me.”

Mishra, of course, wasn’t the only spinner in the team announced by the new selection committee under Krishnamachari Srikkanth; captain Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, who had more than 900 Test wickets between them, were also there in the Indian team. So, Mishra knew he would have to wait for his turn to get into the playing XI.

Fortunately for him, Mishra didn’t have to wait long. Kumble was unfit to play in the second Test at Mohali and the skipper himself told Mishra: “You are playing tomorrow.”

The young leg-spinner didn’t sleep that night. Yet, he was destined to have a dream debut. He took five wickets in Australia’s first innings. And his first Test wicket was the stuff dreams are made of. He bowled Simon Katich with a beauty. Mishra still replays that delivery, a sharp leg-break that bamboozled the Aussie opener, in his mind. “I had planned that dismissal of Katich and everything went according to my plan,” said Mishra with a broad smile. “I felt Katich could be a bit circumspect early in his innings; I thought a leg-break would surprise him.”

Katich wasn’t the only Australian surprised by Mishra’s flight, turn and variety at Mohali. “Each of those five wickets I took in Australia’s first innings will always remain special for me,” said Mishra.

Prod him and he would say Michael Clarke’s wicket, like that of Katich, was more special than the others. “I got him lbw after coming round the wicket in the final over of the second day, which probably took him by surprise,” Mishra explained. “Taking Clarke’s wicket was important because he is probably their best player of spin.”

Mishra took two more wickets in Australia’s second innings and was named the Man of the Match in India’s crushing 320-run win. “I couldn’t have asked for more surely, getting all those wickets on debut and helping my team win against the world champion,” he said.

Perhaps, he may have achieved the dubious distinction of being omitted from the team after winning the Man of the Match award, but the toe injury suffered by Harbhajan helped him retain his place in the team for the third Test in New Delhi. The Test ended in a draw following tons of runs. And destiny had greater things planned for Mishra.

Kumble’s finger injury during the Delhi Test had ensured Mishra would play in the final Test in Nagpur. He took three wickets in Australia’s second innings on the final day as India won by 172 runs and took the series 2-0. The defeat dented Australia’s pride so much that Ricky Ponting and his men are yet to recover from it yet.

So Mishra, who was the forgotten leg-spinner of Indian cricket till a couple of months ago, ended up as one of the chief architects of India’s spectacular triumph. “I feared everyone, including the selectors and the media, had forgotten me,” he said.

Mishra had spent the last five years in the wilderness after playing three ODIs in the TVS Cup in Dhaka in 2003. “It was a pretty difficult period for me; and a shoulder injury made things worse,” he said.

His morale may have been low, but not his performance. Mishra bowled consistently for Haryana in the Ranji Trophy and took a hat-trick for Delhi Daredevils against Deccan Chargers in the Indian Premier League. “But even after my good show in the IPL, I wasn’t considered for National duty,” he said with a wry smile.

He knew with Kumble around, it was difficult for any leg-spinner to break into the Indian team. But what hurt him was that he was consistently being overlooked, while even younger, less experienced bowlers were being tried out. “The Haryana Cricket Association secretary, Ranbir Singh Mahindra, and my friend Gautam Gambhir kept on motivating me during those tough periods,” Mishra revealed. “I am indebted to quite a few people for my success. I am grateful to men like Narendra Hirwani, Kumble, Harbhajan, Dhoni, L. Sivaramakrishnan and Sachin Tendulkar, all of whom gave me valuable tips.”

Mishra, only the sixth Indian to take five wickets on debut, is not unduly worried about not being in India’s one-day squad. “I would of course love to play one-day cricket, but I will wait for my chances patiently,” he said.

Patience has been Mishra’s virtue right from the time he began playing cricket in Delhi, his hometown, after watching his elder brother bat. “I too was a batsman at first, but my coach, Sanjay Bharadwaj, advised me to concentrate on bowling leg-spin,” he recalled. And he found out that it wasn’t an easy job. “Believe me, bowling leg-spin is very demanding, both mentally and physically,” he said. “Maybe that’s why there are fewer leg-spinners around.”

According to Mishra, shifting his base to Haryana from Delhi in 2000 was the turning point of his career. He said: “I wasn’t being considered for Delhi’s Ranji team. So, without playing in first-class cricket, how could you even dream of playing Tests?”

In 2001, he was selected to India’s Under-19 team for the home series against England. A year later, he was named in the senior Indian team for the series against the touring West Indies, but he didn’t get to play in any of the matches. He may have feared the same thing would happen to him in the series against Australia too. But then, you cannot keep a good man down for too long, can you?