Baroda appoint Deepak Hooda as the Ranji Trophy captain

The Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) selectors today announced the squad for their third match of the season against Tripura. In a major decision, they’ve decided to appoint youngster Deepak Hooda as the captain and not only demoted Irfan Pathan who was the captain in the first two games but also dropped him from the team.

Irfan was ahead of the start of the Ranji season appointed the captain of the team. Baroda lost the first game which was a close finish against them and drew the next will host Tripura next. They will head into the game without another key player Yusuf Pathan who has made himself unavailable as he is still recovering from typhoid and isn’t at his best to take field.

BCA secretary Snehal Parikh stated that the decision to drop the veteran Irfan was made by the selection committee but refused to talk in detail. “It’s the selectors decision. They decided to rebuild the team,” he was quoted by TOI. Chairman of selectors, Leslie Fernandez was not willing to comment on it either.

Non-cricketing reasons for the decision

It is reported that the selectors weren’t pleased with Irfan’s captaincy and the team’s performance but some senior officials in the BCA aren’t on the same page as far as the decision is concerned. Along with the Pathan brothers, another veteran Pinal Shah has also been excluded and that leaves Baroda with a bunch of inexperienced players who have the pressure of winning the game on them.

“We are going to play in a crucial match and we need experienced players. Hooda is a young player so he needs backing of a senior like Irfan. Even if the selectors decided to drop Irfan, he should have been explained about the situation,” a BCA official was quoted as saying.

They’ve chopped and changed the team to a large extent even if it meant picking players who aren’t fit enough. “One of the new players added in the team doesn’t meet the fitness criterion BCA has set for the players. But he got selected,” sources in BCA said.

Baroda squad for Tripura game:

Deepak Hooda (C), Kedar Devdhar (vice-captain), Aditya Waghmode, Vishnu Solanki, Swapnil Singh, Mitesh Patel, Atit Sheth, Rishi Arothe, Sagar Manglorkar, Abhijeet Karambelkar, Lukman Meriwala, Ketul Patel, Viraj Bhosle, Vijay Halal and Rudresh Waghela.

The team earlier looked like:

Irfan Pathan (C), Deepak Hooda (VC), Yusuf Pathan, Kedar Devdhar, Aditya Wadhmode, Vishnu Solanki, Pinal Shah (wk), Swapnil Singh, Rishi Arothe, Babasafi Khan Pathan, Soaeb Tai, Lukman Meriwala, Atit Sethi, Mitesh Patel

Author’s take

Irfan had scored runs in the first game and aggregates more runs than pure batters in the team. Plus his role is more than that of a player and was entrusted with the responsibility of mentoring the youngsters. While the results might have not gone their way, a team in transition has to believe in the process more than immediate outcome.