<\/p>\n
On match eve, India skipper MS Dhoni had said that Pragyan Ojha\u2019s job was to contain while Ashwin\u2019s task was to go for the kill. India\u2019s spin duo, however, switched roles on Saturday at the Motera with Ojha doing most of the damage, says a report in The Times Of India,<\/strong> adding that whenever Dhoni turned to the left-armer from Hyderabad, he responded with a wicket.<\/p>\n \u201cFor example, in the 67th over of the England first innings, Matt Prior and Tim Bresnan had put together 47 runs for the eighth wicket when Dhoni replaced Ashwin with Ojha. It took just three balls for Ojha to drag Bresnan forward and induce a simple edge to second slip. Again, when Graeme Swann joined Prior in the middle, Dhoni wanted to finish things off quickly and turned to Ojha. He immediately bowled Prior with a flighted delivery,\u201d says the report, adding that KP was beaten many times, committing himself on the front foot or being saved from being given out LBW by a faint edge. \u201cThen, Ojha produced the perfect ball, one which pitched outside leg, danced away from KP\u2019s willow and hit timber \u2014 the middle stump, to be precise.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe way he was playing, it gave me confidence and I knew that if I could bowl in the right areas and be patient, I could get his wicket,\u201d said Ojha about his prize scalp.<\/p>\n According to a report in The Hindu,<\/strong> stirring action that started in the first over itself set the tone for the day at Motera \u2014 Ojha\u2019s conventional left-arm beat Kevin Pietersen hands down off the first ball followed by the English batsman\u2019s readiness to take the gauntlet and show some adventure in the same over.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just the kind of first delivery that was needed to cause confusion in the batsmen\u2019s minds and to excite the fielding side looking to separate the overnight pair. The field set around the batsmen \u2014 a full leg trap, slip, silly point, short leg and a silly mid off with a short cover \u2014 was quite intimidating with Mahendra Singh Dhoni deciding to begin the proceedings with a double spin attack,\u201d says the report, adding that Ravichandran Ashwin then sent down four maiden overs and in between Dhoni missed a difficult leg-side stumping of Pietersen. \u201cOjha first outwitted Pietersen and then drew a first-ball error from Ian Bell whose inside-out lofted attempt found Sachin Tendulkar at deep mid-off. Cook then departed edging Ashwin to Virender Sehwag at slip \u2014 the off-spinner\u2019s second spell read an impressive 4-3-8-1. Ashwin was a trifle unlucky with Zaheer Khan and Sehwag putting down catches that delayed enforcing the follow on by at least 90 minutes. Matt Prior, Tim Bresnan and Stuart Broad put up some resistance before Ojha\u2019s fifth wicket, that off Prior, closed England\u2019s first innings,\u201d adds the report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On match eve, India skipper MS Dhoni had said that Pragyan Ojha\u2019s job was to contain while Ashwin\u2019s task was to go for the kill. India\u2019s spin duo, however, switched roles on Saturday at the Motera with Ojha doing most of the damage, says a report in The Times Of India, adding that whenever […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[6501,7015,559,2215,570],"class_list":["post-11719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-from-the-newspapers","tag-graeme-swann","tag-kevin-peitersen","tag-ms-dhoni","tag-pragyan-ojha","tag-r-ashwin"],"yoast_head":"\n
\u201cLooked upon by his teammates to lead the rescue act after the fall of three wickets on Friday evening, Pietersen appeared to have won the ongoing skirmish with the left-arm spinner when he whipped him for a boundary, but Ojha had the last laugh when he uprooted Pietersen\u2019s middle stump,\u201d says the report.<\/p>\n