I guess there comes a time in every player’s career, when he has to step it up and take more responsibilities,” he opined. “When Bundi bhai (Bundela) was around, I could afford to just focus on my batting and keeping. Bundela has taken up the role of the team’s batting coach now, but there’s little doubt that Ojha is the fulcrum of this team.
It’s the retirement of their former captain and veteran middle-order batsman Devendra Bundela that has put the limelight back on Ojha once again. I still love to bat and there’s a job to be done as the captain of this team that has so many youngsters,” Ojha told The Indian Express. “I am still motivated, which is why I continue to play cricket. The 122-match first-class veteran insisted he still had a stellar role to play as the leader of this young Madhya Pradesh squad. Ojha asserted that professional setbacks and a spate of injuries have not diminished his motivation to play cricket. The Railways, without their incumbent captain Karn Sharma looked bereft of ideas and inspiration. Their positive intent took the pitch and the weather out of equation. Together, they galloped along at an impressive 3.8 runs per over. His belligerence rubbed off on Dubey and Venkatesh Iyer. The beauty of the knock was that he never played with a defensive mindset. Which is why Ojha’s century assumes such significance. It was overcast and windy with a perceptible winter chill and a pitch that was increasingly offering uneven bounce making batting a treacherous profession. On Monday morning, the conditions looked heavily in favour of the Railways bowlers. The turn of events was hardly believable, especially after the manner in which the home team held the ascendancy on the first two days.
At stumps on Day 3, the visitors had not only overhauled the 120-run deficit, they also stacked up 308/5, which pushed their lead to 188 runs. Forging a 167-run fifth-wicket alliance with Yash Dubey who remained unbeaten on 79, the duo gave their team a splendid chance of going for a win on the final day.
0 kommentar(er)
