New Delhi: Former India spinner Pragyan Ojha on Friday announced his retirement from all forms of cricket with immediate effect. The senior left-arm spinner has played close to 50 international matches for the national squad. Ojha, last played for the Indian cricket team way back in 2013 during cricketing icon Sachin Tendulkar's last Test match against West Indies at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium.

Taking to micro-blogging platform twitter, the 33-year-old posted an emotional open letter as he wrote that it's time for him move on to the next phase of his life. The veteran spinner further added, the love and support of each and every individual will always remain with him and motivate him all the time. Ojha represented India in 48 matches across formats between 2008 and 2013 and picked up 144 wickets.


India’s former left-arm spinner made is international debut in 2008 when he was picked for the tri-series in Bangladesh. Just one year later, he made his Test debut against Sri Lanka and shared a brilliant bowling partnership with star off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

However, the emergence of Ravindra Jadeja in Tests lead to Ojha getting sidelined from playing XI as Jadeja started impressing everyone in Tests and 50-overs format (ODIs) with his all-round abilities coming down the order.

Ojha, who started his domestic career with Hyderabad, also played for Bengal and Bihar. In 2018, he played his last game in Ranji Trophy which came for Bihar.