Mumbai, November 22: To earn the trust of your captain is perhaps the second-most important task for any spinner, other than his bowling. A good bowler who has his captain's backing is doubly potent, as Pragyan Ojha is now discovering.
The left-arm spinner, who rose nine places in the ICC bowling charts post the Ahmedabad Test to make it to the top-five, is becoming captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's most effective weapon on Indian soil. With 84 wickets in 17 Tests, and 44 of them coming this year, Ojha has been a valuable contributor.
Stick to the basics, maintain a particular line and make the batsmen starve - that's the role Ojha was assigned when it was clear last season that he and teammate R Ashwin would go on to lead India's spin attack at home. Ashwin, on the other hand, was supposed to be the attacking one.
"That is where Ashwin got it wrong in Ahmedabad," says former left-arm spinner Maninder Singh. "He tried too much. All he had to do was make the batsmen drive. It was a slow pitch, driving was difficult. Not sticking to one particular line did not help," he says.
Ojha, on the other hand, was exactly the opposite. As he had told TOI in an interview before the start of the series, bowling a particular line and restricting the flow of runs would be his priority. The effort saw him pick a match-winning nine-wicket haul in the first Test.
"His biggest positive seems to be that he knows exactly what his limitations are and what he needs to do staying within those limitations," adds Maninder.
Lately, it's been a delightful time for left-arm spinners. While Bangladesh's Shakib-al Hasan played his first Test in a year, Sri Lankan Rangana Herath picked up 11 wickets against the visiting New Zealand team this week. Ojha's spree only adds to the glow that's returned to the beautiful art of bowling left-arm orthodox spin.
"He hadn't been given his due. He's easily India's main strike bowler when it comes to bowling spin today and I believe he was always capable of being there," says former India left-arm spinner and selector Venkatapathy Raju.
The 26-year-old Ojha returned with match figures 9-165 from 77.2 overs as India defeated England by nine wickets at Motera, taking a crucial 1-0 lead in the four-match series. Dhoni praised his bowlers for earning the team 20 wickets. On that count alone, Ojha delivered what his captain expected from him.
Ashwin is yet to unravel his 'mystery ball' and looked particularly ordinary against the left-handed Alastair Cook in the second innings, but Ojha kept the England captain in check when the latter came up with a fighting century. The bowler was aptly rewarded in the end, getting Cook bowled and allowing India to finish the match early next day.
"He has managed to show amazing control over the line he can maintain and that is something I've always believed he could deliver," says another left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi. England arrived in India thinking a lot about how to counter Ashwin. As they arrive in Mumbai, Ojha takes centre stage.
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