“Laya kuch hamare liye?” - Amit Mishra recalls fascinating interaction with Indian legends during 2003 debut

Veteran wrist-spinner Amit Mishra, who recently announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, recalled a hilarious interaction with legendary Indian pacer Javagal Srinath when he first made it to the national team.

Amit Mishra made his international debut in 2003 in an ODI against South Africa at Dhaka. In an exclusive interview with RevSportz, he narrated what Srinath had told him in broken Hindi, referring to Mishra as a 'Desi boy'.

"Srinath was very helpful to me. I remember this one time when I entered the team, Srinath told me in his broken Hindi: “Aa gaya bhai desi chore. Laya kuch hamare liye? Ghee wagera (The desi boy has come. Got something for us? Like ghee).” Everyone was very good to me," he said. (11:30)

Amit Mishra played with big names like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, and Sourav Ganguly, among others, during his early days in the Indian team.

He expressed having a good bond with some of them and even hailed Sachin for giving him tips while he would bowl in the nets. Mishra played in three different decades, from Sachin's time to MS Dhoni and then Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

While he reflected that being dropped and away for a long time from team was not justified, he stated that he was lucky enough to have supportive captains and seniors.

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Amit Mishra opens up on his partnership with Sachin Tendulkar against England in 2011

While Amit Mishra was known for his wrist-spin and ability to pick wickets, he also had a memorable moment once with the bat in his international career. In the fourth Test against England at The Oval in 2011, Mishra was involved in an 84-run stand with Sachin Tendulkar in the second innings.

Mishra was promoted up the order and walked in at number five as a nightwatchman as India were down to 118/3. He opened up on the partnership and how Sachin guided him throughout.

"First day went by and I was not out, and second day, I went to Sachin Paaji and asked him how I was doing. He replied, saying: “Just play your normal game, normal shots, don’t think too much about what match it is or who is bowling to you, whether or not the ball is swinging, or else you will feel anxious. Just play it like you are playing domestic.” So I followed his words and once the game started, he himself told me that he could see the confidence in me," he said. (6:47) (via the aforementioned source)

Amit Mishra scored an impressive half-century. He made 84 runs off 141 balls while Sachin was dismissed on 91 in that innings. It remains Mishra's highest score in Test cricket.

"It was before lunch or maybe after that he again suggested something to me, and that was to take singles and doubles and not play shots against the spinners. The partnership started building and his guidance in between helped me the most," he added.

Notably, Amit Mishra's 84 is the highest score by a nightwatchman for India in Test cricket. Overall, he made four half-centuries in the format. The veteran also slammed an unbeaten double hundred along with 17 fifties in his first-class career.