Former India spinner Pragyan Ojha who announced his retirement from international cricket on Friday praised his former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, saying that the experienced wicketkeeper-batsman was a bowler’s captain who understands every bowler very well. Ojha had played 24 Tests and 18 ODIs between 2008 and 2013 and he had played most of his international cricket under the captaincy of MS Dhoni only.
“He (Dhoni) was a bowler’s captain. I strongly believe that a bowler should have a captain who understands him. A lot of bowlers praise Dhoni because of the dimensions he gives you, things that he helps you with like placing the field, keeping your mind clear which are important when you play high-intensity games,” he said.
Ojha’s last competitive appearance came in November 2018 in a first-class game while he was playing for Bihar. However, he had a very short stint with them. His last appearance for India came way back in 2013 where he produced a Man of the Match performance by taking a 10-wicket haul in India’s innings win over West Indies at the Wankhede Stadium. This was eventually the batting legend Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell Test.
Pragyan Ojha had his international debut way back in 2008 against Bangladesh in Karachi and after a year he successfully made his Test debut against Sri Lanka also. The spinner, however, played 24 Tests, 18 ODIs and 6 T20Is for India and finished with a total of 144 wickets in all three formats.
In Tests, he managed to take 113 wickets, with the best bowling figures of 6 for 47 as well. His last appearance came in 2018 during a first-class match in Dehradun. Moreover, he had also played in the Indian Premier League for the Deccan Chargers and Mumbai Indians respectively as well.
On the other hand, MS Dhoni is likely to make his return to the action with Chennai Super Kings at the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League. The veteran wicketkeeper-batsman has made himself unavailable from the game since India’s semifinal defeat to New Zealand at the 2019 ICC World Cup in the UK. Although there is no exact date has been announced yet of his return, it will interesting to see how he will perform after his return to action.
