Former India leg-spinner Amit Mishra has reflected on his equation with India's legend MS Dhoni during his international career and also addressed his long-standing relationship with him. There have been rumours and speculations that Mishra was not the first choice of spinner for MS Dhoni.
Mishra shared his perspective and dismissed the notion that Dhoni's captaincy held him back, instead explaining that he actually earned his place in the national side while Dhoni was leading the team. Amit Mishra clearly opened up about the difficulty of maintaining a regular spot in the team and the pressure of consistently delivering.
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"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. I came into the came under him only. And I kept making a comeback. He would have agreed as a captain and that is why I kept coming back. So there is a positive way to look at things," Mishra said on MensXP.
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In Test cricket, Mishra has played 22 matches in which he has picked up 76 wickets - underlining his value in the longer format. In ODIs, he has played 36 games and has 64 wickets. In T20Is, he just made 10 appearances and took 16 wickets.
The spinner credited Dhoni and mentioned how he offered consistent guidance whether Mishra was a part of the playing XI.
"I did have the support. Whenever I was in the 11, it was never like Dhoni did not come to me and give me tips or tell me things. He would always tell me things. I was playing against New Zealand, which was my last one-day series. Dhoni was the captain. It was a tight game. I came to bowl, and we had scored 260-270 runs. I thought of stopping the flow of runs and not going for wickets," he said.
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"After a couple of overs, Dhoni came to me and told I am not bowling what I naturally bowl. He told me not to think a lot and bowl what I always do. I did that and then got a wicket. He told me this is your bowling, bowl exactly this, don't think a lot. It was a game-changing spell. I picked up five wickets, and I think that was also my best spell. His thinking was that if I did not pick wickets, we would lose the game. This is how he supported me," he added.