From cricket coach in Nainital to exile in Jamtara: Mayank Mishra’s long road to redemption

The Sherwood College is an iconic school located in Nainital, with Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan and Field Marshall Sam Manekshaw amongst its famous alumni.

Around 10 years ago, Mayank Mishra was the cricket coach at Sherwood. Often, after a tiring yet rewarding day of teaching kids the basics of the sport he deeply loved, Mishra would gaze at the encircling Shivalik range, wondering whether the ancient soul of the hills could peer into his future.

Mishra, a left-arm spinner, had always aspired to be a professional cricketer. With his home State, Uttarakhand, not having a Ranji Trophy team back then, he decided to try his luck in Jharkhand in 2014. Despite trying his best for three years, Mishra failed to break in, prompting him to return home and take up the job at Sherwood.

The mercurial winds of fate, though, weren’t done with Mishra. In less than 10 years, they have guided him out of his exile, allowing him to excel at the highest level of Indian cricket, just like he had long desired.

The 35-year-old is currently the highest wicket-taker in the Ranji Trophy 2025-26. His mesmerising ability with the ball has placed Uttarakhand on the verge of a maiden semifinal appearance in the prestigious tournament.

“It feels surreal. I worked really hard during the off-season. And god has rewarded me for all of it. I am really happy. I hope it continues the same,” said Mishra on Friday after he claimed three wickets to help Uttarakhand bowl Jharkhand out for just 235 in the first innings of the Ranji quarterfinals.

Mishra is forthright to admit that he still nurses a grudge against Jharkhand for what unfolded during his time here.

“I get an extra competitive edge when I play Jharkhand, because I was here for three years trying to get into the team. But, they didn’t give me a chance.”

During those three years, Mishra based himself in Jamtara, playing for the district at the State level in an attempt to earn a chance to play Ranji Trophy cricket.

“I felt I was familiar with this region because my father is from Bihar. I also had some relatives here. I was hoping that familiarity of language and region would help me. Obviously, it is hard to get into a State team when you are an outsider. But, I believe I performed well in those three years,” recollects Mishra.

Despite his best efforts, the doors never opened. “There came a time when it hit me that if I am not getting picked despite doing this much, I am never going to get a chance. That’s when I decided to go back.”

Driven by the conviction that his cricketing career would never take off, Mishra joined Sherwood. After close to two years, when he was slipping into the rhythms of normalcy in his new job, a critical piece of information filtered to him.

“In April 2018, I learnt that we [Uttarakhand] were going to get the BCCI affiliation. That’s when I decided to quit my job and leave everything, and give it one last shot to fulfil my dream,” says Mishra.

Mishra immersed himself in full-fledged cricket training, sacrificing assured employment for an obviously uncertain spot in a still non-existent team.

“I knew I had my family’s backing. I knew if it didn’t work out, I would be able to do something else with their support,” he looks back.

Thankfully for Mishra, his gamble paid off. Within a year of resigning from Sherwood, Mishra made his debut for Uttarakhand in all three formats. And soon enough, he had established himself as his side’s bowling mainstay, leading to a career-best performance in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season.

Much like most left-arm spinners, Mishra has a simple, yet repeatable bowling action. His wickets are often an outcome of his ability to vary his pace and impart dip on the ball, confounding the batter’s judgement of length.

On Friday, with just his third ball of the innings, Mishra had Jharkhand opener Sharandeep Singh caught behind with a slower delivery that dropped shorter than what the batter expected.

Mishra reveals that this is an aspect of his bowling he had developed over the last few years, thanks to his experience of playing in England’s minor county leagues.

The Uttarakhand spinner started with Philadelphia CC in the North East Premier League in 2021 and then won Yorkshire Premier League North promotion with Driffield in 2022. In the last two seasons, he powered Cleethorpes CC to Yorkshire Southern Premier League titles and has now joined Wickersley for the 2026 season.

“I used to bowl a little bit faster. But that is something I have corrected. In England, you will struggle if you bowl quicker through the air. When I found it difficult to get wickets, my coach told me to slow down. It took me like two weeks to fully grasp it and put it to work. Then I was able to work on my trajectory and flight, and things started getting better. I picked it up like that. Now I can vary my pace better,” says Mishra.

Despite adding more weapons to his bowling arsenal, Mishra felt something was missing after the 2024-25 season, pushing him into course-correction mode.

“I was facing some fitness issues last year. I felt I was carrying a little bit of extra weight. So, I worked on it by doing a lot of strength and agility training. I managed to cut down six to seven kilos, and that seems to have helped. Now I can bowl longer spells because of that,” admits Mishra.

Aided by his refined fitness levels and ever-developing bowling stocks, Mishra has now climbed to the top of the Ranji Trophy wicket-takers tally. He is now drawing appreciation for his abilities, as evidenced by the clamour for his autograph at Keenan Stadium here during the quarterfinal.

With the power of hindsight, we now know that Mishra’s move to quit his job to pursue cricket was indeed the right one. But he is adamant that he wouldn’t have regretted that decision even if things hadn’t panned out this way.

“Even if none of these had happened, I would have been happy. I made that decision on my own, and I would have happily accepted its outcome,” admits Mishra.

Published on Feb 07, 2026