A player in a country with a population of more than 130 Crore can never ever avoid competition as it is the last thing that one can think of. India’s leg-spinner Amit Mishra put up a tough fight against this competition in his career with the bowlers’ like Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja being the next generation. Nevertheless, there has always been a lot of speculation regarding his feud with the then-captain MS Dhoni.
The selection of the team consisted of top-class spinners and thus not only the captain but also the management were under pressure every time they had to select the players. But then again, according to Amit Mishra, the captain’s patience and fortitude were the winning factors for all the tussles on the battlefield. Apparently, he has silenced all doubts about the supposed feud between him and MS Dhoni.
The 43-year-old used a podcast interview to air his views. He pointed out that there are always two ways to look at a situation. For the majority of the onlookers, the one who said that the presence of MS Dhoni in the team had created trouble for Amit Mishra and hence the legspinner was gone Iknew the reverse was the truth that it was due to MS Dhoni that he kept coming into the team.
“People say if Dhoni was not there my career would have been better. But who knows if he was not there maybe I would not even have been in the team. So there is a positive way to look at things”, said the leg-spinner on the podcast.
The Impact of MS Dhoni on Amit Mishra
There is usually a time during any captain’s period of control when one has to make a lot of right and wrong decisions and have a lot of hard talks. Still, MS Dhoni was similar in this regard too. The leg-spinner showed his thankfulness to the then Indian captain announcing that there were many instances when MS Dhoni helped him out in the middle of matches.
Skipper’s favor is something that the majority of players want the most. The ups and downs of a relationship between MS Dhoni and Amit Mishra were rumored since the latter was not in the playing XI at times. However, it should be kept in mind that in the case of the captain, he would have to deal with the likes of Jadeja and Ashwin in his decision-making who were enhancing the team’s quality.
Mishra remembered an incident from his last One Day International series, which was against New Zealand. India had reached the target of 260-270 runs, and for this reason, Amit Mishra thought of trying to hold up the runs rather than aiming for wickets. Thus, his lines were cautious, as he did not want the batters to get comfortable. But after a few overs, MS Dhoni went up to the leg spinner and shared his insights which caused Mishra to rethink his strategies.
“He told me not to overthink and bowl as I always do. I did that and then took a wicket. He said this is your bowling, bowl exactly this, don’t think a lot. It was a spell that changed the game. I took five wickets, and I think that was also my best spell,’ said Amit Mishra.
