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Former left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha was named the new chairman of selectors on Monday, succeeding Ajit Agarkar. He joined the selection committee in September this year, initially taking over as interim.
During his playing days, he bamboozled the batters with his wily left-arm spin. The 40-year-old had represented India in 24 Tests and played in 18 ODIs and 6 T20Is between 2008 and 2013.
Ojha, who competed for erstwhile Deccan Chargers and Mumbai Indians in the IPL, was once reported for a suspect action in 2014. He underwent corrective rehabilitation.
“You feel like you’re a criminal, but at the end of the day you should treat it like overcoming an injury. I don’t know about others, but for me the experts said it was not intentional. They said that angle is wrong for you. It’s like some guys pick up a shoulder injury because of a wrong throwing technique. So they change that technique. Like that, even if you go wider, when you are running straight your body is going straight, so there can be no wrong movement,” he said to this publication about his re-modelling of his action at the time.
Ojha was cleared in 2015 but was never a very effective bowler after that, leading to his axing from the national team.
Ojha played first-class and List A matches till 2018. Ojha’s first-class career spanned more than 13 years between 2005 and 2018, during which he played for Hyderabad and also captained Bihar in the Ranji Trophy.
Famously, he picked up 10 wickets against West Indies in Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell Test in Mumbai. Overall, he has 113 red-ball scalps.
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“I am indebted to the BCCI for giving me this extraordinary opportunity and putting their belief in me. “It has been an absolute honour to be associated with the Board, an association that has shaped my professional life and also enriched my personal development,” Ojha said during his retiremnt in the international cricket in February 2020.
Later that year, Ojha was appointed as the representative to the IPL governing council by the Indian Cricketers Association (ICA).