IPL 2021 | Share a good bond with Pant, happy he's the captain, reveals Amit Mishra
Mishra is happy with Pant becoming DC's skipper
|Delhi Capitals leg spinner Amit Mishra revealed that he's excited to play under the new skipper Rishabh Pant as he enjoys a good bond with him. He also added that a leg-spinner needs a lot of backing and support from the captain as there are times when he's under the attack from the opposition.
Rishabh Pant will be taking over Delhi Capitals' captaincy in the 2021 IPL that kick-starts from April 9 after Shreyas Iyer's injury. He has emerged as the biggest star for India in 2021 across formats. It will be the first time when the 23-year-old will be captaining any IPL franchise.
It will be interesting to see how he captains Amit Mishra given the leg-spinner will be a major attacking option for Delhi in the middle-overs as one thing they failed to do last year was to take many wickets in that period. Amit Mishra is happy that Rishabh Pant has been made the captain given he shares a good bond with him.
"I had a good relation with Virender Sehwag and similarly I share a great bond with Rishabh Pant. I am very happy that he is the captain. He has changed himself in every aspect with regards to his game, fitness and inherent nature and that shows, he has changed his game completely in 4-5 months," Mishra told PTI, reported TOI.
The veteran spinner also remarked that any leggie needs to have a very supportive skipper, who understands the psyche of the leg-spinners well.
"Any leg-spinner needs a good captain because when the bowler is under attack, you need that sort of a skipper, who would back you to the hilt and give you that requisite confidence even when you have gone for a few runs. A captain who basically understands the psyche of a leg-spinner," said Mishra.
The DC spinner was ruled out of the 2020 IPL after he got injured mid-way through the tournament but now he's ready for this season.
"Last season I missed out on playing the finals, something that I had waited for years. It felt good that all the teammates sent a lot of messages that they missed me. This year, I am raring to go and give my best," he said.
Of late, the Indian wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal have struggled in white-ball cricket. Talking about leggies in the country, Mishra feels that sharing of knowledge is paramount and there is no dearth of leg-spinners but they need guidance.
"In the past 5-6 years, we have had some good leg-spinners but we will get more quality as we get more such bowlers, who have learnt the craft, and share the knowledge of their art with the next generation. The passing of knowledge is very important more so for leg spin which is an art form.
"I am not for once saying that we don't have good leg-spinners, we have quite a few but yes what a lot of them need is guidance. Once that guidance is available, you will see a large number of them.You should know how to bowl according to situations and which particular variation suits which situation. Also, a wrist spinner, apart from being a good wicket-taking option, should also strive to be someone who can also play the restrictive role, if need be." he added.
