Speeding ticket: Returns slow down as Pragyan Ojha bowls faster

On a pitch where others have found success,left-arm spinner goes wicketless.

One reason why MS Dhoni stopped Pragyan Ojha after just one over in his first spell,the 19th of the innings,was the presence of left handers Ed Cowan and Phil Hughes at either end. But as soon as Shane Watson walked in after the dismissal of Hughes,Dhoni immediately called Ojha back for his second spell.

That decision almost paid immediate dividends.

Ojha deceived Watson with one that turned past the outside edge and it required the intervention of the third umpire to save the batsman from a two distinct appeals,one for stumping and the other for caught behind. That was the closest Ojha got to picking up his 100th Test wicket in the 23 overs he bowled on Day One.

That delivery had pitched on off-stump making Watson play it. While R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja experimented with their lengths and pace,Ojha seemed reluctant. Taking a closer look at his pitch map,length wasnt a worry for the Hyderabad bowler he consistently hit the good length spot.

But most of his deliveries landed outside the off-stump. His turn only took the deliveries further away,which meant that while batsmen milked him for runs all day,he also went wicketless.

Had his line shifted towards middle and off,Ojhas turn would have posed more searching questions. In this aspect,Jadeja got it right,especially during his dismissal of Watson. The ball pitched on the stumps and turned past the Australian skipper,who had come down the wicket,to have him stumped.

the pace problem

Pace was a problem too. With an average speed of 53 mph,he was at least three miles an hour faster than he had been against England in Ahmedabad on a track that was similar in pace to the Kotla wicket. But since that series,when Ojha had been Indias lead spinner,he had fallen a couple of rungs,with Jadejas arrival and the presence of a number of left handers in the Australian top order causing Dhoni to prefer Harbhajan Singh over him for the first and second Tests.

Because of this,perhaps,Ojha hasnt quite found his old rhythm. On the first day in Delhi,Ojha was never really in control,giving away 67 runs in 23 overs with an economy rate of 2.91,nearly twice as much as Ashwin 1.33 and Jadeja 1.54.

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At stumps India still had done the damage in the innings,but a contribution from Ojha might have ended the Australian innings altogether.