Baroda drop Irfan Pathan for the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament

Irfan Pathan has been ignored by the selectors of Baroda once again for the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament in India. He was earlier dropped hastily from the recently concluded Ranji Trophy in October despite performing decently while leading the side. Moreover, he was the leader of the pack in the last edition of the T20 competition. However, Deepak Hooda has been appointed the skipper this time around as the tournament will commence on January 7 in Rajkot.

Even the likes of Munaf Patel wasn’t considered either as the selectors have opted to go for youngsters. Irfan’s brother Yusuf Pathan has decided to stay away from the game as he is on the medication for last few months. Mohit Mongia, the son of Nayan Mongia, has been rewarded for his consistent show and will make his debut in the shortest format for Baroda. Ninad Rathwa and Urvil Patel are the other debutants to have received their maiden call-up to the side.

Selectors rebuilding the team

Snehal Parikh, the BCA secretary, avoided talking on the exclusion of Irfan Pathan but justified the picks of the three youngsters at the U-19 level. “All the three play for Baroda U-19 team and have performed well. The selectors are in process of rebuilding the team and they believe in giving chance to performing youngsters,” she was quoted as saying by Times of India. She also cleared that Yusuf Pathan informed the association about his unavailability.

“Yusuf was on medication and he had sent the prescription to the BCCI as is required according to the rules. He was advised to not play until January 10. He called up and informed us about it. So he has not been picked up for the T20 team,” Parikh added. While Atit Seth has been appointed the vice-captain of the team, just married Krunal Pandya has also been picked as he is fit. The tournament is a golden opportunity for the players as the auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be held on January 27 and 28.

Squad: Deepak Hooda (c), Atit Seth, Kedar Devdhar, Swapnil Singh, Vishnu Solanki, Dhiren Mistry, Krunal Pandya, Abhijeet Karambelkar, Shoeb Tai, Lukman Meriwala, Rishi Arothe, Dhruv Patel, Mohit Mongia, Ninad Rathwa, Urvil Patel

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