India vs Australia: ‘It’s a big gimmick to take pressure off Australia and try to get under skin of Indians’, says Pragyan Ojha

Pragyan Ojha stated that the Australians are bad losers and are trying to get under skin of Indian players. They just want to put the pressure back on Indian players ahead of the Sydney Test.

Former Indian spinner Pragyan Ojha has condemned a section of Australian media, stating that they are trying to get under the skin of Indian cricket team.

File photo of former Indian spinner Pragyan Ojha(Getty Images)

A lot has been spoken about the five players of the touring Indian team who were seen dining inside a restaurant in Melbourne on Friday, after a video surfaced on social media. Further, a few Australian newspapers dragged Indian captain Virat Kohli and all-rounder Hardik Pandya into the picture and claimed that the duo violated the bio-secure protocols during the limited-overs series.

Reacting to this series of events, Ojha stated that all of these are nothing but a tactic to put the pressure back on Indian players ahead of the Sydney Test.

“Everybody knows Australians are bad losers. They are not able to take it (MCG defeat) despite five of our main players missing. Indian team is doing so well. They never expected the Indian team to win. They thought they could win, they were taken by surprise,” Pragyan Ojha told Sports Today.

“I feel it’s a big gimmick to take the pressure off Australia and try to get under the skin of the Indians. They don’t know we exactly know what they are trying to do. The Indian team is relaxed, they know what to do and focused on the last 2 Tests,” he added.

Speaking on the same, former Indian cricketer Deep Dasgupta said that the off-field controversies will only ‘galvanise’ the team and help them get together on the field.

“I don’t know what the result will be. India can go on to win, they might lose the next two. But this incident will again galvanise the team further. I think they will get a lot closer after the incident. This will only help the team get together,” Dasgupta said.

There were a few reports doing rounds that the Indians are reluctant to travel to Brisbane for the final Test. However, Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley dismissed such news and confirmed that BCCI was ‘fully supportive’ of quarantine requirements in Queensland.