Pragyan Ojha

Pragyan Ojha started his competitive cricket in the city of Hyderabad. He donned the Indian colours as a slow left-arm orthodox spinner, representing the nation in as many as 24 Tests, 18 ODIs, and 6 ODIs. Ojha was earmarked to play for India at the highest stage and it was only a matter of when he would break into the national side. He was the first choice spinner to fill the huge boots of Anil Kumble, Ojha couldn’t achieve much in the international game but he was one of the few bowlers who have consistently withstood the challenges presented by Twenty20 cricket. 

The spinner shifted from Orissa to Hyderabad, at an age of 13, to learn the art of bowling from Venkatpathy Raju. Later had an impressive stint at the U-19 level where he mastered the accuracy and loop. He made his Ranji debut in 2004-05 and started with a fifer. However, it wasn't until the 2006-07 season when bagged 29 wickets from 6 games at the end of the league season at an average of 19.89.

Ojha’s breakthrough year meant Ojha was picked by the Deccan Chargers for the inaugural edition of the IPL. At Hyderabad, the southpaw picked up 11 wickets from 13 games to get rewarded with a call-up for the Indian team. He made his Indian debut during the Asia Cup in 2008. The following year, Ojha got his Test and T20I caps as well. He first paired with Harbhajan and then accompanied Ravichandran Ashwin in the longest format. Ojha enjoyed some immense success at home, however, the emergence of Ravindra Jadeja meant the Hyderabad-based spinner got sidelined from the Indian setup. 

However, Ojha played a huge part in the Indian Premier League. The spinner was part of the Deccan team that lifted the IPL trophy in the 2009 season and stayed with the franchise for two more years. Mumbai Indians acquired Ojha in the fifth edition of the IPL for a fairly huge sum of USD 80,000. The spinner won two more titles, with Mumbai, during 2013 and 2015, as the latter season became his last IPL season. After trying his luck in domestic circles till the end of the 2018 season, Ojha hung up his boots in 2020 to become IPL’s Governing Council member and also represented India Legends in the 2021 edition of the Road Safety World Series.  

(As of April 2021)