Pragyan Ojha banned due to suspect bowling action

The BCCI has banned discarded India left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha from bowling in competitive matches due to a suspect action as he will be heading to Chennai for taking corrective measures.

The BCCI has banned discarded India left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha from bowling in competitive matches due to a suspect action as he will be heading to Chennai for taking corrective measures.

The BCCI officially informed Ojha's home state association Hyderabad that his action needs remedial measures and, accordingly, he was withdrawn from the team's Ranji Trophy home encounter against Services starting on Sunday.

HCA joint secretary Purushottam Agarwal admitted having received a letter from the BCCI.

"Yes, the BCCI did sent us a letter informing about their decision that Pragyan needs to undergo rehabilitation programme in regards to action correction. However, they haven't intimated us about the time-frame. Pragyan is still in Hyderabad but will head for Chennai soon," Agarwal told PTI on Saturday.

Ojha's action has been under a cloud for quite some time now despite being the quickest Indian bowler to reach the 100-wicket milestone. He has taken 113 wickets from 24 Test matches and 21 wickets from 18 ODIs. He also played 6 T20 Internationals in which he got 10 wickets.

Pragyan Ojha delivers a ball during a net practice session. (File photo)



Ojha has been at times criticised for wearing full sleeves while bowling in order to hide the elbow kink which is above the permissible limit of 15 degrees.

Ironically, in his last Test match against West Indies in Mumbai, he got the man-of-the-match award for his match-haul of 10/89.

He has been released by IPL team Mumbai Indians, but to everyone's surprise, has retained his Grade B status of Rs 50 lakh in the recently announced annual contracts by the BCCI.