Magical Mishra mesmerises in 100th IPL game

Amit Mishra last played a Twenty20 international in March 2014. He was India's second-highest wicket-taker, and the fifth-most successful bowler, at that World T20. Between that day and the next time India picked him for an international match, he saw a legspinner with 66 wickets in 34 first-class matches make his Test debut in Australia. He saw a left-arm spinner go to the 2015 World Cup ahead of him. He made a roaring comeback to the Test side, but still, without being given the chance to retain his place, he was left out of the 2016 World T20 side.

Ironically, he lost out to a bolter who one day after the WT20 selection drew a massive bid from his IPL team, Delhi Daredevils. A day before their second match this season, Mishra was defending the same young man, Pawan Negi, who had not even been called upon to bowl in the first game. Mishra said there had not been much to defend - 98 - and that in future matches Negi was going to be an important part of the team.

In what was a sign of the times, Mishra was also asked if he felt this was the tournament through which he could cement his Test spot, given he doesn't play for India in the short formats. It was not as outlandish a question as it sounded at first. Mishra had lost out to others based on IPL performances. He repeated what had kept him sane when he was not picked for the World Cup, that he had stopped thinking about selections because that prevents him from enjoying the matches at hand, that his focus was on winning games for Delhi Daredevils. On Friday night, in his 100th IPL match, that's exactly what he did to lift Daredevils' spirits after a poor first game.

Mishra is a classical legspinner, who perhaps suffered earlier by being one-dimensional and a touch too slow in the air. He has worked hard on those aspects. He has two legbreaks now: the loopier, slower big legbreak and the quicker one that turns only a little to actually take the edge. He has developed a front-of-the-hand quicker delivery that goes straight on. He does the same with the wrong 'uns: two of them, at different pace, one pushed through to cramp the batsman, the other looped outside off, looking to hit the stumps.

It helped Mishra that his captain Zaheer Khan had got Daredevils off to an excellent start. After Zaheer's 3-1-8-0, Kings XI Punjab had reached 37 for 1 in six overs, that too through high-risk shots. Under pressure to hit, mindful not to let Mishra settle into a rhythm, Shaun Marsh looked to attack him first ball. It was different to what Mishra has become used to: batsmen have become wary of him and wait only for the bad ball to hit. Now they had to go. Legspinners cherish such situations. Mishra proved too good for Marsh, and had him stumped.

His next two wickets showed how far Mishra has come, mentally, as a bowler. Kings XI's two best batsmen were up. Against David Miller, Mishra went on an all-out attack, never mind being a legspinner bowling to a left-hand batsman. The first ball to Miller was bowled with a slip and a short leg. The message was sent to a batsman low on form: both his edges were going to be tested. The first one was a slider. Miller didn't pick it. Mishra called for a gully, and his captain was happy to support him again.

Miller's only confident shot against Mishra was now the sweep. He got a boundary off one, but he was not picking the slider, which on both previous occasions had been a touch too short. Mishra needed to bowl the slider full enough to draw the sweep. With the first ball of his next over he did that, pitching marginally on leg stump, beating Miller marginally on the outside edge of the sweep. Then came Maxwell.

In an interview with ESPNcricinfo last year, Mishra was given a scenario: it's 60 for 2, it's the seventh over, and he is bowling to a rampant Maxwell - what is the first ball? "The hardest-spun legbreak," was Mishra's answer. This situation was different, though. Kings XI were 52 for 3, and it was already the ninth over. Perhaps expecting a desperate shot early, perhaps trying to tie down another off-form batsman, Mishra gave Maxwell two quick flat wrong 'uns, pushing him deep into the crease.

The trap had been laid. Maxwell's feet were cemented. He wasn't reading Mishra from the hand, that much had been established. Now Mishra tossed one up outside off, outside Maxwell's reach. Maxwell's mind wanted to go for it, but the body didn't co-operate. A feeble loft resulted, but with the modern bat it carried to long-off. The next wicket was just a party trick: a big loopy wrong'un to a domestic batsman under pressure from a slow start. He got a party hat after that, a purple one. His next task will be to keep it.