Bhubaneswar, May 31 (IANS) Cricket fans in Orissa distributed sweets Saturday to celebrate the selection of left arm spinner Pragyan Ojha in India’s one-day international team for the tri-series in Bangladesh and Asia Cup in Pakistan. There were celebrations at Shaheed sporting club in Bhubaneswar, the place where Ojha, 21, learnt the basics of the game.

“We are very happy over the selection,” club secretary Pankaj Patnaik told IANS.

“We have high hopes of him and we are confident he will bring glory,” he said.

Born in Khordha near state capital Bhubaneswar, Ojha began his career in cricket as a 13-year-old by becoming a member of the club.

He played many junior tournaments in the state for the club from 1996 to 2000. He had gone to Hyderabad for higher studies, but eventually became a promising cricketer.

His family lives in state capital Bhubaneswar. His father, Maheswar Ojha, works in the Orissa government and his mother, Bidulata, is a homemaker. His younger brother, Prateek, is in college in Hyderabad.

Pragyan is the fourth cricketer from Orissa to be selected to play in the Indian cricket team after Shiv Sunder Das, Debashis Mohanty and Sanjay Roul.

“I congratulate him for his selection. I wish him well for the coming tour,” said Chief Minister Naveen Pantaik here.