Birmingham, Aug 12: Although it was a little too late in the England innings to cause any damage, Amit Mishra claimed the wickets of Matt Prior and Ravi Bopara in quick succession during the second session of Day 3 of the Edgbaston Test. The leg-spinner, who replaced Harbhajan Singh in the Indian squad, had a better second day in the field after having bowled a flurry of no balls the previous day.

Excerpts from Mishra’s media-interaction after the end of third day’s play:

On how he is controlling his bowling to prevent no balls

I have watched the footage of my bowling yesterday [Day 2 of the match] and today I think I bowled only one no ball, which means I have recovered. I have worked on it with Eric Simmons [India’s bowling coach].

On the advice given to him by Simmons and the opinion of the experts that he should give more flight to the ball

There are options but at the same time one has to see the what kind of wicket it is, decide what kind of ball should be bowled and at what pace; so one has to consider various factors. I was trying to familiarise myself with the wicket, which happened today, so I am feeling better.

On planning for wickets and the ones that went according to plan

I had done some planning for [Andrew] Strauss and [Ravi] Bopara and I got both the wickets according to my plan and I’m very happy with that.

On whether he had noticed the weakness in Bopara’s batting after watching the batsman’s TV footage

Yes, his feet don’t move that much so I had some idea that if I bowled around his legs then there are chances [of getting him out] and that is what happened.

On the advice received from his role model Anil Kumble

I always talk to him and he always helps and advises me. He shares his experiences with me. He helped me when I was at the NCA [National Cricket Academy] with him three or four months back. I keep talking to him on a regular basis and he has give me a few tips and I will talk to him again whenever possible.

On his assessment of the pitch as a spinner and how likely it was for the ball to spin on Day 4

There is turn in the wicket but the Indian players play well against spinners so we shouldn’t face too many problems while negotiating them. We have depth in our batting, so I don’t think [Graeme] Swann is much of a threat to us.