Priya Mishra slots into the archetype of a modern-day leg-spinner favouring the bustling nature of the white-ball formats. All of 20 years old, the diminutive bowler from Delhi is inclined to homing in on the stumps and deceiving batters with a well-masked wrong ’un as opposed to giving her leg-break a mighty rip.
Over the past few months, her skills, though still raw, have been on display to a wider world. Having made her ODI debut for India, against New Zealand, in October 2024, she has shown that she can handle herself just fine by pouching 15 scalps in her first nine appearances. She is also part of Gujarat Giants in the ongoing Women’s Premier League (WPL), where six matches have yielded five wickets. Among those who have been impressed are Ashleigh Gardner and Mithali Raj.
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While the googly is a predominant feature of her wicket-taking ammunition, Priya seems to be aware of the importance of the stock leg-break too. “I get wickets with the googly because batters can’t read it,” Priya told Sportstar, an impish grin lighting up her face, on Wednesday. “I do try to bowl leg-breaks as much as possible so that batters focus on that delivery and aren’t ready when I bowl the googly.”
Priya, of course, is in the process of learning the tricks of her hard-to-master craft. Asked whether she has an idol in the game, the short-haired rookie extolled the virtues of the late Shane Warne.
“(Shane) Warne is someone I have followed a lot. From the time I found out that Warne is like the best leg-spinner ever, I wanted to be like him. I have seen a lot of his videos on Youtube and on Instagram. Friends would also send me clips of his bowling,” Priya said.
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Does she have a favourite dismissal among the 1,001 victims that the Australian icon prised out in international cricket? “His wicket of Andrew Strauss, when the left-hander tried to pad the ball and the ball spun big and went behind his legs,” she chuckled.
The basics of the game were absorbed by Priya under the guidance of Shravan Kumar, who has notably coached Ishant Sharma. It was on the suggestion of her physical education teacher at school that she was taken to the reputed coach.
Recounting her formative years in the sport, she said: “I used to play at Salwan Girls’ Senior Secondary School. When I was in the 6th standard, there was a teacher, Pooja Chanda, who asked my parents to come and meet her. My father thought initially there was a complaint against me. But she asked my father to take me to Shravan sir because coaching for girls was free at his academy. From there, I started proper cricket. I also used to play in the gully with boys before that. There were people who would mock me for playing with boys and say that I anyway have to handle the household later on. But my family supported me a lot and encouraged me to play.”
But with the family battling to make ends meet in Delhi’s Baljit Nagar, a modest and congested settlement in the western part of the national capital, for her to even travel by bus for practice would sometimes be beyond her parents’ means.
“My father works as an electrician on the Delhi Metro. There was a lot of struggle. My mother would sometimes ask me to skip practice because it was tough to pay for bus travel to the ground. I have a younger brother who would say let’s just walk to practice,” she recollected.
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That she can look back on those adversities without rancour now is down to her potential with the ball. It kindled GG’s interest to sign her for ₹20 lakh in the auction before last season’s WPL. The money has helped better the family’s quality of life. “We have bought a house and a car. When we bought a house, my mother became very emotional because it was our first time,” she said.
If the youngster can continue to sparkle with her leg-breaks and googlies, many more satisfying highs may follow in due course for Priya and her tight-knit family.