Sunday 7th June 2009
Ojha: IPL stint gave me confidence
India's left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha has attributed his dream debut at the ICC World T20 to a successful stint in the IPL.
Ojha became the first Indian bowler to take a four-wicket haul in a Twenty20 international in India's win over Bangladesh.
Ojha's four wickets for 21 runs earned him the man-of-the-match award after India beat Bangladesh by 25 runs in their lung-opener of the ICC World Twenty20.
Delighted at getting the honour in his very first Twenty20 appearance for India, Ojha said he only responded to the "responsibility" of representing the national team.
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"It's not easy to make it to the national team and once you do it, there is a certain responsibility which comes with it. I am happy I was able to handle this responsibility well today," claimed Ojha.
"It was quite chilly, but thanks to IPL, where I bowled quite well, I had a lot of confidence in myself, and I backed myself," the 22-year-old, who played for IPL champions Deccan Chargers, added.
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Speed control
Ojha said the secret of his success in recent months has been his ability to vary his pace.
"I think my ability to vary the pace of my deliveries has been the key to my success. Also whenever I flight my deliveries, I am able to exercise control on batsmen," Ojha said.
All praises
Meanwhile, Bangladesh coach Jamie Siddons applauded India's performance. "The thing about this (Indian) team is that they keep coming at you. Theirs' is such a strong batting line up that they keep coming at you even till the final over."
Bangladesh captain Mohammad Ashraful, however, felt the target of 181 under lights at a slow Trent Bridge pitch was gettable.
"We lost critical wickets in the middle overs and that was the main reason we lost the match," said Ashraful.
Ashraful praised Yuvraj Singh's hurricane 18-ball 41 and said it was the decisive innings of the match.
"Yuvraj just took it away from us. We could have restricted India to a low score but for that Yuvraj assault." Siddons believed his side had done fairly well in the match but a couple of slip-ups cost them heavily.
"We did fairly well in the field. In the batting, we lost wickets in clutch in the middle overs. That didn't help," he said.
Will Australia be affected by Andrew Symonds being sent back home from their ICC World Twenty20 campaign? Send in your reactions to fanspeak@espnstar.co.in
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