Ranji Trophy: Vikas Mishra stars in Delhi victory

NEW DELHI: It seemed like it took Delhi forever to get back to winning ways. And Vikas Mishra, it seemed, took even longer to get on a wicket-taking roll.
For the second time in the match, the 25-year-old left-arm spinner ran through Madhya Pradesh on Monday to take 6/30, the first time that he took 12 wickets in a match. That effort helped Delhi stay afloat in their Ranji Trophy campaign with their first win of the season.
MP collapsed twice in the match after getting off to solid starts, leaving Delhi 29 to chase. That Delhi could come out of the match with six points had much to do with Mishra’s change in approach.
Nine years after he made his first-class debut as a 16-year-old, Mishra seemed to have found the right pace to get wickets.
“The trend in India has been that left-arm spinners bowl flat and do the containing job. Even my strength lay there. But before the match, I sat down with our coach Mithun Manhas and analysed the pace I had to bowl at. In my eagerness to get wickets, I was bowling quicker but I realized I had to slow it up and deceive the batsmen in the air,” Mishra explained.
It was a pitch that offered the spinners considerable help. Yet, MP spinners could take just four wickets in the match. MP skipper Naman Ojha did show his disappointment in his spinners and pointed out the need to keep evolving every year. Mishra was left out of the team for four years before making a comeback last season. That gave him time to evolve. “I used to think too much about what I didn’t have. I tried to do too many things. While I was dropped, I figured out that I have to be immaculate with my accuracy. I don’t focus on variations much as I feel my arm-ball and stock delivery are good enough,” Mishra said.
Delhi have two games remaining now. and it’s up to Mishra to show he can be consistent.
MP lodge complaint against neutral curator Chauhan
The MP team has lodged an official complaint against BCCI-appointed neutral curator Sunil Chauhan for leaving the venue as the match was delayed by a session after ‘watering the pitch on the eve of the match’. MP also questioned the U-23 match played on the same square three days ahead of the game. However, Ojha praised DDCA chief curator Ankit Datta for resurrecting the pitch at the last moment to offer a decent pitch to play on.
“This was not up to the mark of being a Ranji Trophy pitch. But I must say the local curator did an exceptional job to provide a pitch that lasted three days when we thought that the game wouldn’t last even two days,” Ojha said.