Pragyan Ojha

That Pragyan Ojha was prodigiously talented was never in doubt. It was only a matter of when he would break into the national side. Ojha was born in Orissa but moved to Hyderabad as a 13-year old so that he could have a better education. Instead, his talent was spotted by his coach Vijay Paul. Before long, Venkatpathy Raju and Hyderabad coach Kanwaljit Singh began guiding the youngster. According to Kanwaljit, Ojha is a very patient bowler whose strength lies in his loop and bounce.

After an impressive track record with the Under-19s, he made his Ranji debut against Railways, in 2004-05, picking up a five-for against them. However, it was only in the 2006-07 season that Ojha matured and became a serious contender for a place in the Indian squad.

Ojha was burdened with more responsibility and he started the season with 6/84 against Maharashtra, a game his coach reckons was the turning point of his career. He finished with 29 wickets from 6 games at the end of the league season at an average of 19.89. Ojha worked hard on his fitness, sweating it out in the gym to get rid of his baby fat. He spent countless hours in the nets, marking a spot and trying to land every ball on it. The hard work paid off as he scalped 8 wickets against a touring South African A in November 2007, a side which included the likes of Hashim Amla, Boeta Dippenaar, Ashwell Prince and Justin Ontong.

After a good campaign for the Deccan Chargers in IPL 2008, where he picked up 11 wickets from 13 games, Ojha was rewarded with a call-up to the national team, making his debut in the Asia Cup. Some good performances in that tournament ensured that he was included in the 16-man squad for the Sri Lanka series.

He didn't play a Test on that tour but performed admirably in the few ODIs he played. He had a superb season with Deccan Chargers in IPL 2009, picking up 18 wickets at 19.33 before being included in the squad for the home series against Sri Lanka in 2009.

However, Pragyan Ojha the Test match bowler is more popular than the ODI bowler. With Harbhajan Singh under pressure to keep his spot in the side, Ojha was preferred to others for national selection. He has been a consistent performer for India in the longer format of the game and has partnered well with off spinner R Ashwin, especially in home Tests. In 10 Test matches in the 2011/2012 season, he took five wickets or more nine times. He was also the highest wicket taker for India with 20 wickets in the 1-2 series loss to England, but unfortunately lost his place to Ravindra Jadeja in the very next series against Australia at home in 2013, as India needed to strengthen the batting department. He was, however, selected for the 3rd and 4th Test and picked up 7 wickets. India won both the games quite comfortably and Ojha supported other bowlers well with his economical spells.

Ojha was also impressive when West Indies toured India for 2 Tests in November 2013. He kept things tight in the first Test at Kolkata. He was brilliant in the second Test at Mumbai; he was adjudged the Man of the Match for his first ten-wicket haul in Tests. Mumbai Indians bought Ojha in the fifth edition of the IPL for a fairly huge sum of USD 80,000. He has been an integral part of the side since then.

Ojha has never been considered for selection for overseas tours where the wickets are seamer-friendly and hence was not selected for India's tours of South Africa and New Zealand. He was bought back by Mumbai Indians in the 2014 IPL auctions after a tough competition.

Interesting fact: Ojha was the 800th and final Test victim of Muttiah Muralitharan, the highest wicket taker in Test history.

by Cricbuzz Staff

As of March 2014