Musical chair with spinners : Whose turn is it this time?

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The game of musical chairs is about to begin all over again with Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha More... Whose turn is it this time? Indianexpress, Devendra Pandey, 10 July 2010 The game of musical chairs is about to begin all over again with Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha running around in circles and fighting it out for the second spinner's slot in Sri Lanka this time around. Their tussle to partner the established figure of Harbhajan Singh in the spin department was incidentally set in motion when these two teams met in India late last year and 23-year-old Ojha made his Test debut at the expense of Mishra. But after playing a Test each in Bangladesh, following which the 27-year-old Mishra regained his place for both Tests against South Africa, the duo are still awaiting the anointment as India's second frontline spinner. Mishra, who has picked up 32 wickets at 38.81 in nine Tests after an impressive debut against Australia, doesn't believe in elaborating too much about competing with the much younger Ojha. "The competition will always be there and it is good. At the moment the most important thing is to do well whenever the opportunity comes my way," the leg-spinner says. Mishra feels it will be a great challenge for any spinner to bowl against the Lankan batsmen, who like the Indians are also fed on a diet of spin. "What will be a challenging task ahead is bowling to batsmen with good footwork against spin bowling. Sri Lankan players are good players of spin bowling and we have our plans,and not it's up to executing them," explains Mishra. New experience Mishra, who was left out for the Asia Cup after a disappointing run in Zimbabwe, has never played an international game in Sri Lanka but has toured the Emerald Isle with the Indian one-day team, where he was restricted to the bench. But having played alongside the likes of Tillakaratane Dilshan and Farveez Maharoof for the Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been insightful, he says. In fact, the regularity with which the two teams have been clashing against each other, there shouldn't be any secret left anyway. "Players like Sangakkara and Jayawardene are great batsmen and taking wickets won't be easy but what will help is the experience of playing with these players in IPL. I haven't bowled on a Lankan track before, so it will be an interesting month ahead," he adds. Zaheer Khan's last minute exit due to a shoulder injury will leave adequate burden on Harbhajan and whoever accompanies him during the three Tests, starting from July 18 at Galle. With no left-arm pacer in the squad, Harbhajan will not have the benefit of bowling into the rough outside the right-handers' off-stump. Besides, his spite with the ball maybe slightly weakened against a batting line-up chiefly made up of right-handers. Ojha � from over the wickets and Mishra from around � however will have the advantage of troubling both the left-handers and right-handers in the Sri Lankan team thanks to the rough, which will be created by the right-arm pace duo of Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma. Challenge ahead The Indian spinners have also been involved in a lot of white-ball cricket for the last few months following the home Test series against South Africa back in February, and adapting to the longer format will also be a challenge. Though he was touted more as a limited-overs bowler early on, Ojha � who has 13 wickets at 29.53 in three Tests so far � made an impressive beginning to his Test career with nine wickets in two games against the Lankans, both which India won convincingly. And the left-arm spinner from Hyderabad believes in keeping it simple. "There is no point thinking too much. I'm looking forward to the challenge," he says.

[saneindian]

IMO Ojha deserves to play ahead of Mishra, who seems to have lost a bit of focus (his poor fitness being a proof). Also Ojha looks to be a better bowler on placid pitches whereas Mishra on flat decks looks innocuous.

[diegovegaz]

dhoni would pick ojha over mishra

[saneindian]

dhoni would pick ojha over mishra

Like he did for 2 tests against SA or in the tri series in Bangladesh early this year? Didn't Ojha outbowl Mishra in the recent tri series where they both played?

[Lord]

Mishra for me.Ojha doesnt yet hv that variety to trouble test batsmen.hes specially ineffective against lefties

[Ilarum]

Mishra is the one with best talent.

[cowboysfan]

i am confused by this article .Mishra's place in the TEST side is fairly stable at this point,i didnt know it was even up for debate.

[gaurav92]

Well Mishra's place in the Test is fixed while in ODIs Dhoni feels harby and Jaddu are the best combination that he can have, so why so much fuss about the musical chairs :dontknow: