The spine's fine, the wickets are coming, and Sushant Mishra has trophies to win

Left-arm quick Sushant Mishra was around 11 years old when he realised he could bowl faster than his friends in the Ranchi colony he lived in. Like many kids in India, Mishra wanted to be a batter first. But when he recognised his love for speed, there was no turning back.

Little did he know that it would give his body so much trouble later in life.

Mishra first made news at the 2020 Under-19 World Cup, where he picked up seven wickets in five matches in India's run to the final. With a smooth left-arm action, very much in the mould of Irfan Pathan, the ability to hit the 140kph mark regularly and to swing the ball both ways stood out, and things looked to be on the up for Mishra.

He made his first-class debut for Jharkhand in the 2021-22 Ranji Trophy season, bagging a five-wicket haul in his first innings against Chhattisgarh. He played seven first-class and five List A games across 13 months but soon after had a stress fracture of the back. It meant missing close to ten months of competitive cricket in 2023.

He went through the rehab cycle and made a comeback but the injury resurfaced and kept him out of the game for a substantial time again. Mishra secured an INR 2.2 crore IPL contract with Gujarat Titans (GT) at the 2024 auction, but he didn't play a game. With the injury continuing to bother him, Mishra went under the knife.

"The last year-and-a-half hasn't been great for me. I got a stress reaction after my first Ranji Trophy in 2022 and that issue continued till 2024," Mishra tells ESPNcricinfo. "I had a bone at the L3 level [on the spine] where I got a fracture, which was not healed completely. The bone was a malunion. I got it fixed after surgery."

Following the surgery, Mishra did not play competitive cricket for close to 15 months, as he made his way back to full fitness. Now that he is back, he wants to make up for the time lost.

"This back injury has troubled me a lot," Mishra says. "From April 2024 to September 2025, I was injured and missed a lot of cricket. Now, I am at the best possible stage with my spine. My only motivation was that I wanted to make a comeback, and with god's grace, I have."

Mishra was nervous yet excited when he was picked for Jharkhand's 2025-26 Ranji Trophy campaign. He played against Nagaland, where he only picked up a wicket. A month later, he starred in Jharkhand's maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title run, picking up 22 wickets in 11 games, the joint-highest for the tournament.

"The recognition Jharkhand cricket deserves, we are getting that, and that makes me the happiest," Mishra says. "People don't always talk about Jharkhand cricket as a whole; it is always about one or two players. Now with this win, we as a state will get greater recognition. Our cricket will go from strength to strength. This will act as motivation for everyone around."

During the tournament, Mishra was also picked up by Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the IPL auction for INR 90 lakh. While his previous stint at the IPL with GT was spent on the sidelines, he got plenty to learn just by looking at the professionals go about their jobs as he soaked in the atmosphere from close quarters.

"The experience of being in the IPL is surreal. You get to see so many top players from all over the world. You get to see their preparation, you get to see their planning. You get to see so many professional teams up front," he says. "I got to learn a lot from that. The experience I got there, I am putting to use in domestic cricket. It was a good experience for me. I realised that execution is the key. Whatever you plan, if you keep executing, you will be successful. That was my plan. And I tried to inculcate that in my cricket. Whatever you plan, execute it 100%."

During the IPL, Mishra also had the opportunity to work and train alongside Ashish Nehra, the GT head coach, something that didn't get over once the tournament got over.

"I had a terrific time working alongside Ashish Nehra Sir. Even eight-nine months after the IPL, he would regularly ask me about my injury updates, my rehab and how I was progressing," Mishra says. "We used to sit together and watch a lot of matches. He continuously discusses plans, he makes sure that I am involved in the game even when sitting on the sidelines.

"He would say that as a fast bowler, you have to be aggressive. You shouldn't look at ways to escape. As a bowler, you should always look to take wickets, come what may. You have to be aggressive 99% of the time. Attack is the best form of defence."

Mishra comes along as a thinking bowler. He has plenty of variations in his armoury, but seems to know when to use them and, more importantly, not try too many things in a game. A case in point was the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final against Haryana, when he cleaned up opener Arsh Ranga with a pinpoint yorker on just the fourth ball of his spell. In an earlier game against Madhya Pradesh, Mishra, defending 12 runs in the final over, made excellent use of his variations from the around-the-wicket angle to give Jharkhand a one-run win.

"Before the match, when we have a meeting with the video analyst, I make notes of the strengths and weaknesses of each batter. And I look at the notes two-three times before the match," he says. "When the batsman comes in, I know what ball to bowl. I want to be clear at the top of the run-up. For every batsman, we make specific plans in the game. I just try to execute it from my side.

"Also, I don't premeditate. I like bowling my wide yorkers. But if I feel that the batsman is ready for the wide yorker, then I slip him a wide slower ball. I try and keep a field where I can execute two different types of balls. You have to keep evolving if you want to succeed in professional cricket. I already have all the skills. But I have to sharpen them. I have to execute in practice so that I keep executing in the game."

Despite still being young, Mishra has already spent more time off the field than on it in the past few years. But he is hopeful that the injuries are a thing of the past and wants to just enjoy his cricket and take Jharkhand on more victory runs.

Currently playing the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Mishra has his eyes set on the IPL next, where he will join the likes of Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger and Sandeep Sharma at RR. "I am looking forward to play matches this year," he says. "I will play matches this year and do well for Rajasthan. I want to put my yorkers into good use at the IPL. That's the goal."