Pinal Shah

During his playing days Pinal Shah dreamt of keeping wickets for India. Though the former Baroda cricketer couldn’t fulfil his dream, he wants to ensure that he produces quality wicketkeepers who would go on to play for India.

Young cricketers from Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) have been performing well in the ongoing Kenya tour that will end in second week of August.

Mumbai bowlers put up an impressive show as they restricted Baroda to 286 for 9 on the first day of a Ranji Trophy group league encounter.

Though Baroda lost the Ranji Trophy finals against Rajasthan at Motibaug Ground on Saturday, but performance of the young players however gave a reason to smile.

Baroda wicket-keeper Pinal Shah, who led his team to Ranji finals in 2010-2011, has been relieved of skipper's responsibilities for the upcoming Shafi Darashah invitation tournament in Karnataka.

Irfan Pathan made a telling impact with his all-round prowess to pull off an eight-run win over Punjab in a well-contested final on Tuesday.

It may be the perfect stage for Baroda to kick off the season on a positive note and take the confidence into Ranji Trophy matches, scheduled to start next month.

Rohit Sharma took a hat-trick as Deccan Chargers beat Mumbai Indians by 19 runs in the 32nd match of the second edition of the Indian Premier League at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Wednesday.

Rival captains Suresh Raina and Irfan Pathan practised at the Nashik District Cricket Association (NDCA) ground ahead of the Ranji Trophy encounter between Uttar Pradesh and Baroda.

This Ranji season, cricketers across the country will play the matches in a completely new format adopted by Board of Control for Cricket in India (wherein all the 27 Ranji teams have been divided into three categories.

Rohit Sharma has been replaced by Siddhesh Lad in the Indian Oil team, while Mayank Tehlan has come in for ONGC in their revised squads for the Corporate Trophy.

G Gaikwad took four wickets as Maharashtra beat Baroda by five runs in the Twenty20 zonal league (west zone) match at the Reliance Cricket Stadium.

A classy unbeaten 106 by former India opener Wasim Jaffer enabled Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. to pile up a healthy 294-5 on Day One of their three-day Times Shield Div-A Round Two match.

"I believe that players like him (Yusuf) should be playing freely, because his partnership with Pinal actually got the momentum towards us. Guys like him will win you games, and any team would like to have him," Irfan praised Yusuf.

Canara Bank and India Oil will lock horns in the final of the DY Patil Twenty20 tournament.

Yusuf Pathan hammered an unbeaten 86 as Baroda defeated Mumbai by 15 runs in the West Zone T20 tournament at the Saurashtra Cricket Association stadium.