Pragyan Ojha

Pragyan Ojha (born 5 September 1986) is an Indian former cricketer, who represented India in Test, ODIs and T20. He is an attacking slow left arm orthodox bowler and left-hand tail-ender batsman. He currently plays for Hyderabad in the domestic Ranji Trophy and also has played for Bengal as a guest player in Ranji Trophy for couple of seasons (2015/16-2016/17). He has achieved World no 5 as his career best ranking in ICC Player Rankings. He is the first and one of the two spinners to ever win the Purple Cap in the Indian Premier League. He joined Bihar cricket team as a guest player for 2018/19 season of Ranji Trophy. He is one of the very few players who have taken more wickets than the runs they have scored in Test cricket.[2]

Pragyan Ojha
Personal information
Full namePragyan Ojha
Born (1986-09-05) 5 September 1986
Bhubaneshwar, Odisha, India
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
BattingLeft-handed
BowlingSlow left arm orthodox
RoleBowler
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 261)24 November 2009 v Sri Lanka
Last Test14 November 2013 v West Indies
ODI debut (cap 174)28 June 2008 v Bangladesh
Last ODI24 July 2012 v Sri Lanka
T20I debut (cap 29)6 June 2009 v Bangladesh
Last T20I13 June 2010 v Zimbabwe
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2004/05–2015/16Hyderabad
2008–2011Deccan Chargers
2012–2015Mumbai Indians[1]
2011Surrey
2015/16-2016/17Bengal
2018/19Bihar
Career statistics
Competition Tests ODIs T20Is FC
Matches 24 18 6 108
Runs scored 89 46 10 848
Batting average 8.90 23.00 – 9.02
100s/50s 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/1
Top score 18* 16* 10* 51
Balls bowled 7,633 876 126 25,330
Wickets 113 21 10 424
Bowling average 30.27 31.05 13.20 8.60
5 wickets in innings 7 0 0 23
10 wickets in match 1 0 0 3
Best bowling 6/47 5/3 6/21 7/8
Catches/stumpings 10/– 7/– 1/– 35/–
Source: Cricinfo, 21 February 2020

Career

Ojha made his debut in first class cricket in 2004/05 and represented India at the under-19 level as well. He finished the 2006–07 Ranji Trophy season with 29 wickets with an impressive average of 19.89 in just 6 games. The left arm spinner is known for his ability to flight the ball.

His earliest pursuit in cricket was at the age of 10, when he went to Sahid Sporting Club for a summer camp in Bhubaneswar under Sasang S Das, while studying at D.A.V. Public School, Chandrasekharpur. Three years later, he moved to Hyderabad and joined Bhavan's Sri RamaKrishna Vidyalaya in Sainikpuri, Secunderabad and choose cricket as his profession under the guidance of his coach T Vijay Paul.

Ojha represented Hyderabad Cricket Association in domestic cricket from 2004 till 2015, then played for Cricket Association of Bengal as a guest player for couple of seasons (2015/16-2016/17). He has previously played for Deccan Chargers and Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League. His high success in the first couple of seasons in domestic cricket and the IPL ensured his selection in the 15-man Indian squad for the Bangladesh tour and Asia Cup in 2008.

He played his first One Day International match against Bangladesh on 28 June 2008 in Karachi and ended up with figures of 2/43.

On 24 November 2009, Ojha made his Test debut in the Second Test against Sri Lanka in Kanpur, replacing Amit Mishra and gaining figures of 2/37 off 23 overs and 2/36 off of 15.3 overs in India's 100th Test win. He then took five wickets in the Third Test in another innings win for India, taking nine wickets at 28.66 in two Tests. Ojha became the 800th and final Test victim of Muttiah Muralitharan, the highest wicket-taker in Test history.

In his T20 debut against Bangladesh on 6 June 2009, he took 4/21 in four overs. He was awarded Man of the Match for his outstanding and match-winning performance.

He has performed exceedingly well in the six editions of IPL, earning him the praise of his captain Adam Gilchrist and Sachin Tendulkar. He was all the more successful in the second season, which ensured his selection in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 in England. IPL 3 he was awarded the Purple Cap for picking up the most number of wickets in the tournament. He has been part of 3 IPL winning teams (1 for Deccan Chargers & 2 for Mumbai Indians) & 1 champions League for Mumbai Indians.

In August, 2011 he signed to play for Surrey for the final few weeks of the 2011 season.[2] His 24 wickets in 4 games helped Surrey to promotion to Division One of the LV County Championship.

In November, during the First Test of the West Indies Tour of India he staged a marvelous comeback taking 6 wickets for 72 runs in the first innings.

In December, 2014 Ojha was barred from bowling in competitive cricket after his action was found to be illegal.[3][4] Later on 30 January 2015 Ojha cleared the test and was allowed to resume his bowling.

In a 2008 interview, Ojha said that Venkatapathy Raju, who was also a left-arm spinner, inspired him to play for India.[5]

Ahead of the 2018–19 Ranji Trophy, he transferred from Hyderabad to Bihar.[6]

On 21 February 2020, he has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.[7][8] He played 48 international matches - 24 Tests, 18 ODIs and 6 T20Is - from 2008 to 2013. In his last game for India, a Test against West Indies in 2013, which was Sachin Tendulkar's farewell match, he finished with match figures of 10 for 89 and was named the Man of the Match.[9]

Personal life

Pragyan was born in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. He moved to Hyderabad at the age of 13 and since then he has been residing there with his family. His parents are Maheswar Ojha (retired State Govt. Officer) and Bidulata Ojha (M.A in Literature).[10] On 16 May 2010 he married Karabee Baral, daughter of Kailash Chandra Baral and Chanchala Naik both professors at English and Foreign Languages University.[11]

Awards

References
  1. Pragyan Ojha transfers to Mumbai Indians from Deccan Chargers, archived from the original on 22 March 2012, retrieved 14 January 2012
  2. Santlani, Amrit (10 February 2020). "Four International Bowlers Who Have More Wickets Than Runs in Test Cricket". CricketAddictor. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  3. "Pragyan Ojha banned from bowling". ESPNcricinfo. 27 December 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  4. "Pragyan Ojha's Ban Does Not Surprise Sunil Gavaskar". NDTV Sports. 28 December 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  5. "Raju inspired me to play for India: Ojha". cricketnext.com. Archived from the original on 10 August 2008.
  6. "List of domestic transfers ahead of the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy season". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  7. "Pragyan Ojha announces retirement from all forms of cricket - Sports News". India Today. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  8. "Pragyan Ojha announces retirement from international and first-class cricket". India TV. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  9. "Pragyan Ojha announces retirement after 13-year career". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  10. Kumar, Solomon S (21 February 2020). "Pragyan Ojha retirement: Former Indian left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha hangs up his boots - Cricket News". The Times of India. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  11. Jain, Rupam (10 June 2010). "'I'm ready for marriage': Pragyan Ojha". The Times of India. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
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