This time, Mishra passes the test

Ten years after being told he wasn’t good enough to play for Delhi, Mishra’s turning it on at the Kotla

Back in 1998, during the under-16 trials at the Ferozeshah Kotla, a young boy stood with his fingers crossed, hoping to find his name among those short-listed. He went back home disappointed that evening, having been told that he just wasn’t good enough to make it to the Delhi team.

A decade later at the same venue, Amit Mishra’s life came a full circle as he played a big part in the Delhi Daredevils’ 12-run win over the Deccan Chargers with a special five-wicket haul that included a hat-trick.

One big problem people pointed towards as Delhi slid from the top of the table was the absence of a quality spinner, especially after New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori left to play the series against England. Going into tomorrow’s match against the Kings XI Punjab, at least that worry has been sorted.

Highs and lows

Story continues below this ad

Mishra played for India in 2003, was compared to Shane Warne at one point, and was touted as a replacement for Anil Kumble. Then he was suddenly dumped back into the dungeons of domestic cricket. Somewhere in between, he overcame a career-threatening shoulder surgery.

“Woh sab puraani baatein hai (All that is in the past). I don’t want to think about the past. I should thank the Haryana Cricket Association and my coach Sanjay Bharadwaj, who took care of me and groomed me during my initial years and also during my recent struggles. But yes, it’s special to have come up with a hat-trick at the Kotla and win a crucial match for my side,” he says with a smile.

Small ambitions

When he started cricket, Mishra only had a small ambition — to somehow play for the state so that he could bag a Grade IV Railway job on sports quota and secure a future. “I had seen an India potential in him. But he seemed to be looking only at that Railway job,” recalls his coach Bharadwaj, admitting that they have had many laughs over it since then.

Skipper’s faith

When talk veers to yesterday’s match against Deccan Chargers, Mishra blushes slightly, admitting it didn’t occur to him immediately that he had got a hat-trick. “The only thing I thought of was the equation. And then it suddenly struck me: ‘God, I got a hat-trick!’

Story continues below this ad

“The credit goes to Virubhai who showed confidence in me in a format where skippers rarely like to play spinners. He asked me before the penultimate over if I would bowl the last one. He simply tossed the ball to me and said ‘I know you can win us the match’. This hat-trick is for Viru alone,” he says.

Just 25 and Mishra has seen it all: hopes, frustration and self-doubt… and triumph again. More than anything, Mishra has answered a whole lot of questions, to himself, and to his critics.