By Sirshendu Panth, IANS,
Kolkata: India’s young left arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, who captured his 50th Test wicket Wednesday, is enjoying his partnership with offie Ravichandran Ashwin and says they complement each other.
The Bhubaneswar-born cricketer, who took four wickets to play a major role in the West Indies collapse early on day three of the second cricket Test at the Eden Gardens Wednesday, feels the stint in county cricket with Surrey has helped him learn to overcome pressure which is part and parcel of international cricket.
The 25-year-old bowler, who took four wickets in the West Indies’ first innings, is also happy with his skipper M.S. Dhoni for giving him the new ball and showing confidence in the spinners.
Speaking to mediapersons after the day’s play, Ojha hoped that his side would seal the match early on the fourth day Thursday by getting the remaining seven West Indies wickets.
Needing 478 to avoid an innings defeat, the tourists were 195/3 at close of play.
“Right now we are in the driver’s seat and things are going pretty well at the moment. In the morning, there was some moisture on the wicket and it was doing a bit for us. We hope the same thing happens tomorrow. Our guys are bowling superb, hitting in the right areas. We are confident of getting them out early tomorrow,” he said.
“I think the main reason is the wicket was spinning a lot. Yesterday the light was too bad so we thought of going with the spin rather than a pace attack. I thank Dhonibhai that he has lot of confidence on me and Ashwin. There is quite a bit of turn today and hopefully we will get some more turn tomorrow as well.”
On sharing the new ball in the first West Indies innings, he said the aim was to take advantage of the wicket which was taking substantial spin.
Asked about the transformation in his bowling after the Surrey stint, Ojha replied: “Basically it’s about handling pressure. Once you play county there, you are a professional and you are expected to perform and win games for them.
“You have a lot of responsibility to handle. It teaches you how to deal with that… overcome (pressure) and do well.”
Ojha and off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin have drummed up a good combination in the series – each bagging 11 wickets so far.
Ojha wants to carry on the partnership and get lot of wickets for india. “It’s great to have Ashwin. We complement each other….”
On the West Indies putting up a decent show in the second innings compared to their disastrous performance in their first essay, he said the wicket had become better while the Caribbean batsman also played well.
“We got quick wickets and then the wicket got better. But they also batted well in the second innings. We should give credit to them also.”
The cricketer said he was not focussing on the coming Australia tour and his aim was to win the Test and “look forward to Mumbai (third and final Test). God willing, if I do well there, I can look forward to the other things.”