Even at 30, Amit Mishra does not shy away from picking up a few more tricks in the art of leg-spin bowling. The Sunrisers leg-spinner is eagerly looking forward to meeting Australian Shane Warne to get a few “tips” about mastering the art of leg-spin and the dreaded flipper which made the latter a legend.
“I am very keen to talk to him about aspects like speed and variations and also the flipper which made him so famous. He is a legend and one is likely to become a different cricketer after a discussion with him,” said Mishra.
“The last time I met him, we did discuss a few aspects. He advised me to focus on consistency, bowl always to take wickets and make the batsmen play every ball,” Mishra revealed in an interview here on Wednesday.
Mishra, who has 76 wickets from 55 IPL games so far, says that this time he is more confident than he was in the last edition. “For this edition, my preparation has been much better. My confidence is high and I am more focused mentally,” he said. “For any spinner, the key is to have a big bag of variations and the ability to spot the strengths and weaknesses of a batsman quickly in this T20 format. I am confident of doing really well this time and there has been a lot of positive talk at team meetings,” said the Sunrisers frontline leggie who has played 13 Tests (43 wickets) and 15 ODIs (19 wickets).
“We will certainly improve a lot from our last year’s performance (then as Deccan Chargers) since we have learnt from our mistakes. Lots of strategies are being worked out by head coach Tom Moody and the support staff and we will execute them in the desired manner. The team is really building up nicely and so is the spirit,” Mishra said.
Commenting on the nature of wickets for IPL, he said generally they are loaded in favour of batsmen. “It would be better if they are of some help to the spinners. There has to be some balance and they should not be one-sided,” he said.
