VADODARA:
Irfan Pathan has been named skipper of Baroda team that will take on Gujarat in the Ranji Trophy match to be held on October 6. Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) selectors picked up the team on Sunday after a brief deliberation. Young Deepak Hooda will be vice-captain of the team that is high on confidence after winning the recently organized J P Atray Memorial Tournament.
"We had good range of players to pick up from as all were completely fit. Irfan has proved his mettle as a skipper and he is in good form too. Our batting line up is very strong this time and the team also has good all-rounders," said BCA secretary (in-charge) Snehal Parikh, who was convener in the selection committee meeting.
The selectors have picked up a new face Viraj Bhosle as the second wicket-keeper. The other players are
Yusuf Pathan, Munaf Patel, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya,
Kedar Devdhar, Aditya Waghmode, Swapnil Singh, Dhiren Mistry, Pinal Shah, Gagandeep Singh, Sagar Manglorkar and Vishnu Solanki. The team will be coached by former Baroda skipper
Jacob Martin
. The team will be playing all the Ranji matches on neutral venues this season. Irfan had said it will be a challenging tournament and expressed confidence that his team will perform well.