Former India spinner Pragyan Ojha, who called time on his international and first-class career last week, on Tuesday (February 25) termed MS Dhoni as bowler’s captain.
Ojha played almost all his games for India under the leadership of Dhoni and he stated that the wicketkeeper-batsman had a great understanding with his bowlers.
“He (Dhoni) was 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 and those are important when you play high-intensity games,” Ojha told media persons on the sidelines of the DY Patil T20 Cup.
He also expressed his desire to play overseas T20 leagues and will be seeking NOC from the BCCI.
“There are few things in my mind. I have been doing commentary and I am with the BCCI. I will take advise from the BCCI whether I can go and play in some leagues outside India but (only) if I get permission. I need to talk to BCCI and let’s see what happens,” Ojha said.
The left-arm spinner represented the country in 24 Tests, 18 ODIs and 6 T20Is from 2008 to 2013. While Pragyan claimed 113 wickets in the longest format, he picked 21 and 10 scalps in ODIs and T20Is respectively.
Ojha’s career was hit with a setback when he was suspended for a brief period after his action was found to be illegal.
Asked whether the clampdown on chucking affected his career, he said, “I will tell very clearly, what happened when I started playing, I developed few things which were not good for my career.”
“Chucking is something which should be treated like an injury not like an insult, because when I heard about it, I was shaken. Imagine a 15-16 year old guy, so it (chucking) should be taken very carefully and they (the authorities) should be very sensitive in the way they are dealing with those boys,” he noted.
“I was back in just 22 days and began playing for Hyderabad again. I played for India ‘A’ as well. So that’s how it went,” Ojha said.
(With PTI inputs)
