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  Ojha confident of excelling in Lankan conditions
08 Jul 2008
 

Having toured Sri Lanka two years ago with Hyderabad, spinner Pragyan Ojha says he is not new to the conditions at the Emerald Island and would try his best to utilise the chance to cement his place in the national team. The conditions are very much similar. I``ve to control on my flight and vary the pace. Now, I hope to do well and cement my place in the side,```` said Ojha, terming his selection for Test series against Sri Lanka as an achievement of his career. The 21-year-old promising bowler said he would surely be an evolved bowler at the end of the series, which would expose him to the gruels at the highest level of the game. ````Bowling to Sachin (Tendulkar) is a challenge... I``ve bowled to him in the past, it was a great experience. I``m sure, I``ll be an improved bowler after the sri lanka tour.
 

Ojha had made Ranji debut for Hyderabad in the 2004-05 semi-final against Railways at the Karnail Singh Stadium in Delhi, where he scalped seven wickets in a lost cause. Following a bountiful Ranji season (2006-07) - 29 wickets off six matches - Ojha then got his first India A break - in Zimbabwe tour (on debut he got four wickets). But it was next tour (Kenya), where the left-arm spinner caught the eyes. With 11 wickets (including a five-wicket haul against Sri Lanka A) in the Triangular tournament (also involving Kenya), Ojha was at his best. It was his good show for the Deccan Chargers in the Indian Premier League (IPL) that ensured that he makes the ODI cut for the tri-series in Bangladesh and then the Asia Cup. His father Pramod Ojha``s happiness knew no bounds. Now, I can``t tell you how much happy am I... I``m proud that I``m Pragyan``s father,```` he said. However, it was not always so. Like any other typical Indian father, Pramod, an assistant manager in a multinational company, wanted his son to take up engineering or earn big bucks taking up it. Disappointed with his son``s poor show in studies while he was studying in standard VII at DAV Public School in Bhubaneswar, the senior Ojha sent his son to his brother-in-law``s place in Hyderabad. Little did the senior Ojha know that instead of taking up a good career in the it city, Pragyan would sharpen his cricketing skills and will be selected in the Indian Test team, third from Orissa to make the cut. Former medium-pacer Debashish Mohanty and former opener Shiv Sundar Das being the other two to have played for India. Ojha, though, owes his success to Hyderabad, a team which he represents in first-class cricket. Determined to be a cricketer after the Shahid Sporting Club cricketer failed in the Orissa Cricket Association``s under-15 selection trials, Pragyan first tried to convince his uncle (Chakradhara Maharana) and Aunt (Geetisudha) in Hyderabad.
  In the meantime, the Bhavan``s student in Hyderabad started showing his cricketing skills which helped him gain the support of his uncle and aunt. ````He (Pragyan) never revealed his desire to be a cricketer in life... And as like other parents, I wanted him to do well in studies and take up software or engineering..```` But he took the support of my sister who then convinced me... And his cricketing talent was beginning to show that time, so even we started supporting,```` the senior Ojha said at Bhubaneswar. Notwithstanding the the hype of making the Test cut, the three-ODI-old Ojha, however, seemed cool. ````I owe my success to everybody...My parents, my uncle, aunt, my first coach Vijay Paul, (Venkatapathy) Raju Sir and of course my association (Hyderabad) for giving me the support. I``ve tried to prove myself on the field and that has helped me getting the Test call,```` Ojha said at Hyderabad.
   
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