Indian player Pragyan Ojha, who retired from cricket this year, said that he was not able to understand that why he was never called back in the Indian national cricket team despite giving a satisfying performance. The spinner last played the international match in 2013.
The Test series against West Indies in 2013 is very known as the farewell match of the legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. But very few know that in this series, Pragyan Ojha registered his best career figure. He picked up 10 wickets in a Test match. However, this series became Ojha’s last international appearance.
Pragyan Ojha bowled his heart out for India:
The 33-year-old, speaking about his career end, said that he changed his state team to Bengal from Hyderabad for getting noticed by the selectors. However, as per him, nothing was working out for him to get a second chance to play for India.
“There are certain things that can’t be understood. I have thought about it (abrupt end to Test career) a lot of times. When Hyderabad got relegated, I moved to Bengal to play cricket because I wanted to play in the elite group. When you want to make a comeback, you have to play elite cricket. I had no choice. I had to leave my home state and play for Bengal. I am very thankful to Dada (Sourav Ganguly) for encouraging me at that time. I did well for Bengal and my performances were good but I was not able to understand what went wrong,” Ojha told Sports Tak.
I might have fallen back a bit: Pragyan Ojha
Ojha has played 24 Tests, 18 ODIs and 6 T20Is. He has picked up 113 Test wickets, 21 ODI wickets, and 10 T20I wickets. He also had a successful career in IPL while playing for Mumbai Indians.
The former spinner also said that his chances of a comeback had become less after the emergence of Ravindra Jadeja, who with his allrounder skills had impressed the team management.
“Maybe, when Jaddu [Jadeja] came into the team, he gave the team a different dimension. He bowled very well, he was a good batsman as well, he contributes with the bat even now. Fielding, he is one of the best in the world. Maybe, because of the other dimension, I might have fallen back a bit,” Ojha said.
Well, now, Jadeja has become an important part of the team in red-ball as well as white-ball cricket. So, far he has played 49 Tests, 165 ODIs and 49 T20Is for India.