Pitch debate has overshadowed our effort: Mishra

Sabi Hussain

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, DECEMBER 1

Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja might have taken the bulk of the South African wickets, but leg-spinner Amit Mishra’s key strikes at crucial junctures have been equally telling.

Out of the 47 wickets snared by the Indian spinners, Mishra has grabbed just seven, but that includes AB de Villiers twice in Mohali, JP Duminy in the first innings in Nagpur, and Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis in the second innings when the duo was threatening to take the game away.

Mishra has delivered whenever skipper Virat Kohli has thrown the ball to him. “During the stand between Amla and du Plessis in Nagpur, Virat came to me and asked ‘what should we do?’. I said let me bowl as I felt I could get a wicket. I was confident, I knew we needed to get a wicket there and I felt I could use my variety. I got them out,” said Mishra.

Mishra dismissed South African skipper Hashim Amla with a leg-break, inducing an edge from his defensive bat, while du Plessis played over while attempting a pull shot and was bowled.

“It is more important to take wickets when it matters. When you take important wickets and your team wins, it gives you more satisfaction. If in short spells you bowl well and take one or two wickets, it helps the team a lot,” he added.

Mishra rued that despite their heroics, the spinners have not been given due credit as the debate on the nature of pitches has overshadowed their efforts. He felt it was poor technique of the South African batsmen that left them bamboozled.

“We have not been given due credit with so much talk about the pitch. Our achievements should have been highlighted more. Our home conditions have been like this for the last 15 years. When we went to Sri Lanka, we got turning tracks there and bowled well. I thought if the spinners are bowling well, then at least praise them for doing well. It’s not that spinners got wickets only because of the pitches. We have done well outside the country too,” he said.

“Like we get bounce outside the Subcontinent, it is a given that there will be more turn in India. It is all about adaptability. They need to do their homework and improve their batting technique on pitches that offer turn. I believe they are under a lot of pressure because we have not given them boundary balls.”