Injured Pragyan Ojha to miss the remainder of Vijay Hazare Trophy

The left-arm spinner has sustained a shoulder injury.

Pragyan Ojha had signed for Bihar as its only professional guest player and was named the captain.

Bihar captain Pragyan Ojha is set to miss the remainder of the Vijay Hazare Trophy after sustaining a shoulder injury earlier this week.

The left-arm spinner, who has featured in 24 Tests and 18 ODIs for India, signed up for Bihar this season as the only professional guest player and was named the captain of the side. Even though Ojha did not have a great outing — picking up only one wicket in three matches — the team performed outstandingly and is placed on top of the table.

“Pragyan suffered a shoulder injury a few days back and he is presently in Mumbai for further treatment,” Bihar coach and former India international, Subroto Banerjee, told  Sportstar .

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Bihar Cricket Association secretary, Ravi Shankar Prasad Singh, however, confirmed to this publication that the spinner will not be available for the rest of the tournament. “We have already sent Kumar Mridul as the replacement for Ojha. He is consulting the doctors in Mumbai and we hope that he recovers before the Ranji Trophy,” Singh said. Even though Ojha led the side in its previous outing against Arunachal Pradesh on Friday, he did not bowl or ball. In Ojha’s absence, Keshav Kumar led the team against Sikkim on Sunday.

Ojha, who has been out of India reckoning for a while, had returned to Hyderabad last year, after spending two seasons with Bengal.

A Hyderabad stalwart, Ojha found himself in a spot of bother as Bengal initially refused to issue him a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to play for Hyderabad. But things eased out later as Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Sourav Ganguly interfered.

But with the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) in doldrums, Ojha decided to explore new opportunities this season.