Spinner Amit Mishra looks to cement his position in Indian ODI side

Returning to International One day cricket after almost a year, Amit Mishra wants to be a regular in the Indian One Day international side, according to what he told BCCI.TV.

“It is a great feeling to come back into the ODI side and straightaway put up a good bowling performance.”

“From here on I would only look to better my performances if I get a chance in the forthcoming ODIs. I feel whenever you play for India you need to have self-confidence. Irrespective of the fact that you are taking wickets or not; the most important thing is to bowl well and pitch the ball in the right areas.”

“I believe I am bowling well at the moment and I am enjoying every bit of it. I am looking to take as many wickets as possible at the moment and bowl according to the match situation.”

The Delhi-born player was instrumental in India’s bowling line-up during their five-run loss against visitors South Africa on Sunday. He took the all-important wickets of in-form top order batsmen Hashim Amla and David Miller.

Did not give De Villiers any opportunity: Mishra

Talking about his last match’s performance, Mishra said that he stuck to a certain plan which was successful for him. “I made a conscious effort to flight the ball and mix the deliveries. I didn’t want the batsmen to settle and get used to a particular type of delivery. The aim was to keep mixing it up and I believe I was successful in it to some extent,” he said.

He made quite an impact in the game, bowling the right line and length. Experienced South African batsman AB de Villers who scored an unbeaten 104, was relatively subdued against Mishra in yesterday’s match.

“The bowling plan to AB was simple – not to allow him to dominate you or let him play the big shots. “I knew for a fact that he would keep trying to go for the big shots but my endeavor was to bowl a good line and not give away any loose deliveries. He kept waiting for a loose ball from my side but I never gave him an opportunity to go big on me,” Mishra said.

The Delhi spinner made his Test cricket debut against Australia in the Second Test at Mohali after replacing injured captain and leg spinner Anil Kumble. He was impressive in the match, taking 5 wickets for 71 runs in Australia's first innings and then 2/35 in the second. This made him the leading wicket-taker in the match as India won the match comfortably.

Although performing consistently, he was eventually dropped from the ODI side after the match against West Indies almost a year back. There has been a lot of controversy regarding his absence from the squad list during recent T20 series which India lost miserably. Mishra was finally included in the side for the first ODI in Kanpur.