Charger's left-arm spinner Pragyan Oza believes in staying positive and is aiming to fire in the Champions League to win back his spot in the indian one-day team
Charger's left-arm spinner Pragyan Oza believes in staying positive and is aiming to fire in the Champions League to win back his spot in the indian one-day team
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One of the most common status messages on Facebook or Google Talk profiles has been: There is only one attitude that flows through my veins: Be positive.
Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, it seems, lives by the motto.
Despite being inexplicably dropped from the Indian squad, the 23-year-old Hyderabadi always had his head held high as he tackled questions regarding his exclusion.
"Sometimes it happens, you know. There are ups and downs in life. You can't always expect to be at the top.
When you climb up you're always going to come down at some point. I have taken it positively and I am just preparing to do well and I hope I succeed," Ojha told MiD DAY ahead of the Deccan Chargers' opening Champions League Twenty20 game against Somerset.
But didn't the unfair treatment prompt him to ask selectors the reasons for his exclusion? "That's not my job.
My job is to play and perform and work harder if I am dropped," Ojha countered.
A section of the Indian cricket fraternity feels Ojha's exclusion had more to do with Hyderabad cricketers u2013 remember VVS Laxman's early days u2013 being deprived of a godfather. But Ojha quashed this theory as well. "I don't think you need a godfather? I believe that if you perform well consistently, you will surely get a call-up," he said.
In fact, rather than being disappointed and cribbing about it, Ojha has set a bar for himself to achieve. "As a left-arm spinner, my aim is to become someone like Bishan Singh Bedi and Venkatapathy Raju. They have played at the highest level for so many years and they've done so well," he said.
And Ojha looked up to the Champions League Twenty20, where he will take the field at the reigning IPL champions' home ground tonight, as one of the steps in order to achieve his goal. "It is a very big tournament considering that everyone is waiting to watch it across the world. If you see yesterday's match, the stadium was jam-packed. I think as a cricketer, it's a very big tournament for me. If I do well, that would be great," Ojha said.
The last time Deccan Chargers played at their home ground the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on May 25, 2008, they conceded their seventh home defeat on a trot to Royal Challengers Bangalore. As a result, most of the bucket seats in the stands were empty. But after the Chargers' stunning IPL-2 title, things will not be the same tonight. "Whatever happened in the first IPL, it was quite new for us. We were trying to mould ourselves into the new format of the game. But in the second season we emerged as champions and we have proven that we also can do well as a team. And I think the supporters are really looking forward to Uppal this time and support us," Ojha signed off.
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