Ranji Trophy 2018/19: Baroda Appoints Krunal Pandya as Captain

All-rounder Krunal Pandya has been named as the skipper for Baroda in the upcoming Ranji Trophy 2018/19 season. It came as a surprise, as Krunal Pandya played only one first-class game so far in his cricketing career. However, the officials in the meeting decided to hand the reigns to the all-rounder.

Deepak Hooda served as the skipper for the last couple of seasons but haven’t quite put the show as the skipper. The selectors opined the experience of playing with the high-class cricketers would help Krunal Pandya in leading the team.

Krunal Pandya has experience – Baroda team secretary

The selectors quoted they have discussed in a meeting, where Deepak Hooda was also asked to attend. However, Deepak Hooda is fine to give back his captaincy reigns to concentrate on his game as well.

The officials furtherly felt they had got the strong names on the paper but the lack of application and planning denting their chances during the tournament. They think Krunal Pandya might bring the change in fortune.

“Krunal has experience of playing with senior players in the Indian Premier League and he has also been a part of India A teams. Our team has always been good on paper but we want them to win the games too,” Baroda Cricket Association’s Secretary Snehal Parikh was quoted as saying by The Times of India.

”So Krunal has been made skipper of the team that has both experienced and new players. It was a review meeting where all selectors met to discuss the potential team. Deepak Hooda was also called for the meet and all possibilities were discussed,” he added.

However, it seems like Baroda has made the right decision in handing the captaincy to Krunal Pandya. It would be interesting to see how the things would pan out for the team in upcoming Ranji Trophy 2018/19.

Here is the full squad:

Krunal Pandya (captain), Kedar Devdhar (vice-captain), Aditya Waghmode, Deepak Hooda, Vishnu Solanki, Yusuf Pathan, Pinal Shah (wicket-keeper), Swapnil Singh, Noor Pathan, Atit Sheth, Bhargav Bhatt, Lukman Meriwala, Sagar Mangalorkar, Baba Khan Pathan and Shoaib Tai.