Pragyan Ojha was reported for suspect action in domestic cricket last year - former umpire AV Jayaprakash

AV Jayaprakash’s revelation has increased the spotlight on Pragyan Ojha

With an increased emphasis on suspect actions by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in recent times, there have been murmurs of India left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha needing to pay close attention to his action. These rumours only heightened after AV Jayaprakash, who is a former Test umpire and one of the BCCI’s three man committee – the other two being Javagal Srinath and S Venkataraghavan – given the responsibility of looking into dodgy actions, said in an interview to Times Now recently that Ojha is undergoing remedial work for a suspect action.

When contacted by ESPNCricinfo later, Jayaprakash clarified that his comments were taken out of context, but acknowledged that Ojha was reported while playing domestic cricket last year and was then cleared by the committee.

"He was reported," Jayaprakash said. "Definitely. No question. Only thing is, he has been reported. Many bowlers get reported. They get cleared too. We have found him okay. He was there last year also. One or two balls the umpires felt were suspect. We told them it is okay, there is no problem."

Jayaprakash added that Ojha was free to play in the Duleep Trophy semi-final starting on Wednesday.

As far as the BCCI’s process of dealing with suspect actions is concerned, the on-field umpires report the deliveries of a bowler that they feel is suspect to the 3-member committee. The committee, then, scrutinizes the video footage of those deliveries, and reports its findings to the BCCI, which then communicates to the home association and the captain whether the reported action is suspect.

Ojha’s home association, however, has stated that it has received no such warning from the BCCI.

"We have not received any notification," John Manoj, Hyderabad Cricket Association's secretary, said. "As far as I know, even the player has not been conveyed anything like this. It is unfortunate that such charges have cropped up at a time when Pragyan has reached Rohtak and is eager to start a new domestic season with the Duleep Trophy semi-final. Let's hope this doesn't affect his morale."

South Zone coach Hemang Badani, meanwhile, also said that he is unaware of Ojha having been reported previously. "Pragyan is very much part of the team. He trained today and is all set to play against East Zone on Wednesday. I haven't received any communication, from the BCCI or the South Zone chairman of selectors," he said.

If all goes well, Ojha should take the field for South Zone in their all-important semi-final clash against East Zone. While whether Ojha can stake a claim for a Test match spot in the upcoming series Down Under by putting up a good performance in the Duleep Trophy remains to be seen, he can be certain that people will now definitely be following his progress very closely, and it is up to him to take advantage.