Playing for Haryana didn’t happen by choice for Mishra. He was snubbed by the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) almost a decade ago that resulted him in turning out for Haryana. There are two other such players who have been adopted by Haryana after their respective state associations disowned them, this includes Harshal Patel who bagged eight wickets on the opening day of the quarterfinal against Karnataka.
On Wednesday, Mishra became only the second captain after Kapil Dev to take Haryana to the semifinals in the prestigious Ranji Trophy. Haryana last entered semis in 1990-91 when the team lifted the coveted trophy beating Bombay by two runs in an epic final encounter.
It won’t be wrong if Haryana is termed as the underdogs in the tournament this season. Apart from Mishra, there is no well-known face in the team. Harshal Patel’s 8 for 40 and Rahul Dewan’s century knock were the highlights of the quarterfinal match. Haryana, despite the odds, have shown tremendous courage in this tournament and even knocked out a champion squad like Baroda in their previous game and there was no way Karnataka could have taken them lightly.
Speaking to the Sportskeeda.com, post the match, Mishra spoke of his team and his own performance.
With zero stars in your team, you guys managed to defeat a strong team like Karnataka. Satisfied with the victory?
Yes it’s a great win. We lost out on Joginder Sharma due to injury prior to the tournament and didn’t quite have any strong bowler who could match up to him but Harshal Patel’s dream spell on the first day was the game changer for us. I think we did well both in bowling and batting. Next we play at our home and hopefully continue the same way.
Had you won the toss, would you have elected to bat too?
Yes we would have batted first. I don’t think Karnataka’s decision to bat first was wrong. The wicket was wet during the day and didn’t quite support bowlers. We knew we had to get Karnataka bowled out within the 200-run mark in the first innings and things went according to plan.
Don’t you think your middle order looks a bit weak?
No, it’s not that they are not scoring runs. The problem is that they are scoring in patches and there is no consistency.
At the end of second day’s play, the match was evenly poised. What was your plan for the third day?
Karnataka were always under pressure because they had to score the runs as well as save their wickets. We just had to ensure that we picked regular wickets. Our plan was to restrict them to 150-160 in the second innings and take a couple of wickets in the first one hour of the match and that worked for us.
You had a poor outing against England. What do think of your own performance in the tournament so far and what do you think are your chances to play for India again?
I try my best to do whatever I can for the team. It could be batting or bowling. It clicks sometimes and it doesn’t at times. I am doing my best to try and get into the Indian team again. I was disappointed when I was dropped but I am hopeful of doing well again.
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