BCA drops Irfan as Baroda captain

VADODARA: In a surprising decision, the Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) Ranji selectors removed Irfan Pathan from the captain's post for the upcoming Ranji one-dayers on Wednesday. Irfan was made the captain in November 2009, ahead of the four-day games. He captained in five Ranji games and was the highest wicket-taker and run-getter in the team.While giving him captaincy last year, BCA authorities had saidthat they wanted to give Irfan additional responsibilities so that he could makemost of it and make it to the Indian team. Irfan bagged 22 wickets and scored397 runs in the five games that he played as a captain this season. However, theselectors decided to give captainship to Baroda wicket-keeper Pinal Shah for theone-day team.Sources in BCA said that the decision was taken so thatIrfan could focus on his bowling performance and make his place in the Indianteam. "Captaincy is a pressure job and it is difficult to focus on his ownperformance for a skipper. Hence, it was decided to hand over captaincy to Shahand allow Irfan to concentrate on taking more wickets," saidsources.Shatrunjay Gaekwad will be vice-captain of the team that haslot of young faces this time around. "The captaincy decision was takencollectively by all the selectors for the team's and individual players'well-being. We have also given opportunities to several youngsters, whoperformed in the premier league," said BCA secretary, SnehalParikh.When asked about the captaincy issue, Irfan said, "I was toldabout the decision by BCA few days ago and I accept it." He, however, refused tocomment further. Opening batsman Kedar Deodhar and all-rounder Shoaib Tai havebeen rewarded for their excellent performance in the recently concluded premierleague tournament. Both of them have been included in the Ranji one-day teamalong with youngsters like Hardik Parmar, Abhijit Karambelekar, Anupam Gupta andAbhimanyu Chauhan. The team will also have support of experienced hands likeMunaf Patel and Yusuf Pathan along with Vishwanath Parmar and AjiteshArgal.