CAB issues NOC to Pragyan Ojha

After months of dilly-dally, India international Pragyan Ojha was given the No Objection Certificate (NOC) by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) late on Thursday night. This clears his way to play for home side Hyderabad in the Ranji Trophy.

Pragyan Ojha featured for Bengal in the last two editions of Ranji Trophy.

After months of dilly-dally, India international Pragyan Ojha was given the No Objection Certificate (NOC) by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) late on Thursday night. This clears his way to play for home side Hyderabad in the Ranji Trophy.

After being incommunicado for long and not attending Bengal’s season opening camp in Kolkata, Ojha wrote to the CAB stating that due to family reasons it is difficult for him to leave Hyderabad.

In the letter to the CAB, he also stated that it would be detrimental to his career if he missed matches at this stage.

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The CAB, which was earlier not ready to release Ojha, decided to relent. “We had received a letter from Pragyan, where he requested for the NOC to play for Hyderabad. I discussed the matter internally with the President (Sourav Ganguly) and the association has considered sympathetically based on his request,” CAB joint secretary Avishek Dalmiya told Sportstar .

The joint secretary also made it clear that with this, Ojha is now eligible for selection in the Hyderabad Ranji side. “We have no objection if he plays for Hyderabad,” Dalmiya said.

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Ojha was even kept in the provisional side for Hyderabad, but things changed with CAB chief Ganguly not willing to release the spinner. But now with the association going easy, the left-arm spinner may finally be featuring in the premier domestic tournament. Speaking to this publication, Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) secretary T. Shesh Narayan said that they will consider Ojha for selection from the second match of the Ranji Trophy. "It is a good news. But we are waiting for an official letter from the CAB. Once that is received, Pragyan will be considered for selection," Shesh Narayan said.

Ojha joined Bengal two seasons back and bagged 36 wickets from nine matches to become the highest wicket-taker for the side along with medium pacer Ashok Dinda. That was in the first season. Things, however, went haywire last year, where he managed only 10 wickets from six games.