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Priya Mishra’s career has quite a unique trajectory.
Players usually do well in the Women’s Premier League (WPL) and then get picked for the national side.
But in the 20-year-old’s career, it is exactly the opposite.
Even before she could make her WPL debut for Gujarat Giants, the 20-year-old played a grand total of NINE ODIs, with 15 wickets, showing her worth. The leg spinner was fast-tracked into the national side on the back of her impressive showing against Australia A, where she picked up 5/14.
To imagine that it took the leg spinner so much national exposure before making her WPL debut shows how special the 20-year-old is. After quite an unlucky first outing against the reigning champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), where she could have pocketed Richa Ghosh, the very first ball, Mishra wanted to prove her worth.
That’s exactly what she did on February 16 against UP Warriorz.
The leg-spinner’s torrid WPL run briefly continued when she conceded nine runs off her first over. But the very next over, the 20-year-old quickly realised her fault, showing course correction against the Australian duo of Tahlia McGrath and Grace Harris.
Just two balls into the over, the leg-spinner bowled a brute of a delivery, more of a top spinner beating the Australian vice-captain’s inside edge, trapping her right in front of the stumps. The leg-spinner showed exactly why she’s rated above all the other leggies in the country.
It is that combination of skillset and attitude that has made the leggie stand out from all the others in the country. The very next delivery, she ripped up a googly, which almost beat the defence of Harris, who was saved by an inside edge.
If Harris was ready, Mishra was two steps ahead of the batter with a plan that almost worked instantaneously. Eventually, it was that googly, a slow loopy one that spun sharply past the defence, hitting the stumps and silencing the Australian swashbuckling batter.
“Our bowlers did a great job and someone like Priya Mishra taking three wickets in just her second WPL game was brilliant,” Giants’ skipper Gardner couldn’t help but praise Mishra.
What made her night even more special was how she bowled to one of the country's best spin-bowling players, Deepti Sharma. After getting cut for a four, the leg-spinner tossed up another googly well outside the left-hander’s reach to prize out Deepti’s wicket, showing why the Indian team had actually rated her well before any WPL franchise could.
The 20-year-old might have already made her mark in international cricket, but everyone knows that you will fall behind in the pecking order if you can’t keep the pace up through the WPL. As it has stood thus far, there aren’t too many spinners that are at Priya Mishra’s level.
It is now up to her to ensure that it stays the same even after the end of WPL 2025.
