Latest news with #PragyanOjha
NDTV
3 days ago
- Sport
- NDTV
"Before A Match, I Would Automatically...": Pragyan Ojha Shares Cricketing Superstition
Former Indian spinner Pragyan Ojha shared his long-standing superstition. He mentioned that he always called his family before a match, but a missed call due to poor network in Sri Lanka led to him becoming Muttiah Muralitharan's 800th wicket. Ojha last played an international game in 2013, which was also the retirement match for Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar at the Wankhede Stadium. In the game, he managed to take ten wickets and was awarded the Player of the Match. Speaking on 'Cheeky Singles', Pragyan Ojha said, "Whenever I used to get in the team bus before a match, I would automatically call my mom, then my dad. Even if both of them were sitting together, I'd call them separately. Then I'd call my uncle, who was a cricketer and the one who inspired me to take up the game. Even if I had called my uncle 10 minutes before the match, he would have picked up. But in Sri Lanka, at that time, there was no network, and the call didn't go through. Because of that, I became Muttiah Muralitharan's 800th wicket." The 33-year-old Ojha had made his international debut in 2008 against Bangladesh in Karachi. A year later, he went on to make his Test debut against Sri Lanka . The spinner went on to play 24 Tests, 18 ODIs and six T20Is for India and finished with a total of 144 wickets in the international game. In the longest format of the game, he managed to take 113 wickets, with the best bowling figures of 6-47. He was last seen in action in 2018 as he played a first-class match in Dehradun. He also made a name for himself in the Indian Premier League as he played for the Deccan Chargers and Mumbai Indians. He was a key member of the Deccan Chargers IPL-winning team in 2009. He last played a match in the premier tournament in 2015 for the Mumbai Indians.
New Indian Express
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Voice of cricket
"NERVOUS," was how Pragyan Ojha put it. Manvinder Bisla had used that same word. The likes of Sarandeep Singh and Sourabh Kumar weren't too sure if they belonged when they were given gigs. These days, they are all key voices in the host broadcaster's attempt to make the Indian Premier League (IPL) more inclusive by adding commentary feeds in multiple regional languages including Bhojpuri, Kannada and Punjabi. These commentators -- known as 'talent' -- have either played for the national team in a previous cricket innings or are well known as coaches. But while it gets them through the door, they are also subject to tests before JioStar, who have shelled out a pretty penny to broadcast the IPL, give them gigs. Siddharth Sharma, the content lead (sports), narrates a story. "We just don't want to gloss over a glorious shot (although) that's one of doing it (commentary)," he tells this daily. But if we can engage at a deeper level and make this hero meaningful for you... take the example of (Vaibhav) Suryavanshi. One of his coaches is part of my Bhojpuri commentary. He comes from Samastipur. So, all of this, We have got stories that we should fulfil the fans regardless of where he joins us from. That's something we have worked on, to create that ecosystem and environment that tells the richest story. Some of them are consummate storytellers, some of them we work with." To first see if they are natural storytellers, there's a video clip sent to them. Kumar, for example, was sent a video of the match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Chennai Super Kings, the game where RP Singh no-balled giving CSK the win. Here's Kumar. "What do we say when the batter is not still? What do English or Hindi commentators say? We say this because we are professional coaches and we understand the game. But we say it like there are 2-3 people sitting at home and discussing the game... it's infotainment." That infotainment is tangible because they have worked with their respective producers to come up with pop culture references and cultural nuances important to that region. "We don't want it to be another Hindi commentary," Sharma says. "The producers come from those regions, they can read and write (for example, a Kannada feed producer is literate in Kannada and so on). They have a background in pop culture."
India.com
07-05-2025
- Sport
- India.com
Operation Sindoor: Gautam Gambhir hails India's strike on Pakistan terror camps with 'Jai Hind' chant
Cricketers salute Indian armed forces after strikes in PoK. New Delhi: Following a coordinated Indian military operation targeting terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir on May 7, numerous current and former Indian cricketers publicly expressed their support for the action. The operation, involving strikes at nine locations, reportedly resulted in the elimination of eighty terrorists. Following the Pahalgam terror attack, which resulted in 26 fatalities, several former Indian cricketers, including Gautam Gambhir, Aakash Chopra, and Pragyan Ojha, publicly expressed their appreciation for the Indian armed forces' response. Kolkata Knight Riders spinner Varun Chakravarthy also shared the army's image of 'Operation Sindoor' on his Instagram account. Jai Hind! 🇮🇳🇮🇳 — Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) May 7, 2025 जय हिन्द, जय हिन्द की सेना 🇮🇳#oprationsindoor 🙏🏼 — Pragyan Ojha (@pragyanojha) May 6, 2025 जय हिन्द, जय हिन्द की सेना 🇮🇳#oprationsindoor 🙏🏼 — Pragyan Ojha (@pragyanojha) May 6, 2025 Indian security forces conducted a multi-pronged counter-terrorism operation in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, resulting in the reported deaths of over eighty terrorists. The operation, which involved targeted strikes on terrorist infrastructure, occurred early Wednesday morning. Following the April 22nd Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians, a large-scale cross-border operation targeted nine sites linked to the militant groups Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, and Hizbul Mujahideen. This is considered one of the most extensive such operations in recent times. Indian forces launched significant strikes in Bahawalpur and Muridke, areas believed to be key operational bases for the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) respectively. Intelligence suggests that approximately 25-30 militants were killed in each location. One target, the Masjid wa Markaz Taiba in Muridke, is a known LeT facility considered central to the group's ideology and operations. Several locations associated with banned groups, including launch sites, training camps, and radicalization centers, were targeted in the strikes. While the confirmed death toll is still pending verification from all affected areas, officials estimate it to be between 80 and 90. Following a military operation, the Indian Army posted a short video on X, stating that justice had been delivered.
