Irfan, Munaf ignored for Baroda Ranji team

VADODARA: It seems to be the end of the road for Baroda cricketers Irfan Pathan and Munaf Patel this Ranji season.
The duo has again been left out of Baroda's next Ranji game against Madhya Pradesh that will be played in the city. Once considered to be the backbone of Baroda team, both Irfan and Munaf failed to impress the Ranji selectors during a practice organized recently at Alembic Ground.
While Irfan played his last one day international (ODI) in 2012, Munaf played his last ODI in 2011. Irfan has been playing in the Baroda Ranji squad but he has been in and out of the team for last couple of seasons due to injuries. This season too he and Munaf opted out of the first two Ranji games due to injury. Irfan did show readiness to play for the next two games but he wasn't picked up.
"Both of them were not up to the mark in the practice game kept for testing their fitness and bowling. So it was decided to not pick them up for the next Ranji tie. We have a good pool of youngsters who have been performing well and hence we decided to go for good winning combination instead of star value," said a senior BCA official. "Ambati Rayudu, who is back from his national duty, has been made skipper of the team while Deepak Hooda has been made vice-captain," said Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) secretary, Snehal Parikh.
Pacers Murtuja Vahora and Sagar Mangalorkar have been dropped from the squad for want of performance while two youngsters, Rishi Arothe and Atit Sheth have been picked up for their good show in the junior cricket. Baroda will miss services of all-rounder Hardik Pandya who is away for playing Board President XI matches.