Injury halted Kushagra Ojha’s cricket but not his dreams

Kushagra Ojha is a member of the India U-19 squad for its multi-day matches against Australia U-19. | Photo Credit: SHAYAN ACHARYA

For six or seven months, cricket was something Kushagra Ojha could only watch on television.

He was in class 3 when a pick-up vehicle hit him as he was getting down from his school van. His left hand and left leg were fractured, and the eight-year-old was confined to bed.

For his family, the accident brought an obvious question: should he continue playing cricket?

For Kushagra, there was really only one answer.

“I liked playing cricket from the beginning,” he tells Sportstar. “So I felt that I had to play the game.”

He had started playing when he was in prep. His father had noticed the youngster batting left-handed and got him into an academy close to their home in Jaipur. Kushagra joined Kendriya Cricket Academy in Vidyadhar Nagar and eventually began training under coach Sumit Khatri, a former first-class cricketer.

The accident changed things for a while.

Kushagra was good at studies and people around him felt he should concentrate on them instead of returning to cricket. His mother was particularly concerned.

“Everyone used to tell me to study and leave cricket,” he says. “But I wanted to play cricket. I told my father, ‘No, I will do it. There is no issue.’”

So he went back.

The routine was demanding. Four hours of practice in the morning, four more in the evening. His coaches continued to believe in him, even when the runs did not always come.

His under-16 year was difficult. Kushagra struggled to score. Then, in his first game this year against Madhya Pradesh, he was dismissed early.

The doubts returned.

A few days later, against Punjab in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy, his team slipped to 30 for three when he walked in at No. 3. He scored a hundred. “That hundred gave me the confidence that, ‘No, I can do this at this level,’” he says.

His first game for India under-19 brought another significant moment. Against Sri Lanka, Kushagra scored 92 and was named Player of the Match. “When I first wore the India shirt, it felt a little heavy,” he says. “But my first match was a good game.”

Monday was another reminder that things do not always go to plan. Kushagra got a start against Australia under-19 but could not make it count.

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He has learnt to deal with such moments in his own way.

Kushagra has never had formal mental conditioning. Instead, he turns to his faith. “I go to a temple, talk to God and tell Him what is going on,” he says. “I feel that I am basically into spirituality. It gives me a lot of belief that things will be right.”

There is also a simpler way he approaches batting -- focus on what is in front of him. “If it is 40 for four or 30 for three and you are batting there, you just play that phase of the game,” he says. “If it is 30 for three in nine overs, play another six overs.”

It is a way of dealing with cricket that has served him through different phases of his young career.

The accident was one difficult phase. His under-16 season was another. The early dismissal against Madhya Pradesh brought the doubts back. Each time, he went back to playing.

Now, with India under-19, the competition is only getting tougher. Kushagra knows that plenty of things are beyond his control. “The competition is very high in India,” he says. “But all these things are not in your hands. I try to do the things that are in my control,” he says.

The next target is the U-19 World Cup. India was the defending champion last time, and Kushagra wants to be part of another title-winning campaign. “Last time, we were the defending champions. So this time also, the effort will be to win the World Cup.”

When he was bedridden for months, Kushagra knew he had to get back on his feet and play again. That thought kept him going then. Today, it is his dreams that keep him going — helping him move on from disappointments like the one on Monday.

Published on Sep 28, 2026

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