Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021: Krunal Pandya to lead Baroda, Kedar Devdhar named vice-captain

Vadodara: India all-rounder Krunal Pandya will lead the Baroda squad in the Vijay Hazare Trophy beginning 20 February. Krunal had led Baroda initially in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy but then had to leave the tournament’s bio-bubble mid-way due to his father’s demise. Baroda have picked a 22-member squad for the domestic 50-over championship, and it was shared to PTI by Baroda Cricket Association secretary Ajit Lele on Wednesday. The squad comprises opener Kedar Devdhar, who not only performed well in the Mushtaq Ali Trophy, but also led the team to the final, where they lost to Tamil Nadu, in Krunal’s absence. Devdhar has been made the vice-captain. The squad also comprises batsmen Vishnu Solanki, Abhimanyusingh Rajput and young wicket-keeper batsman Smit Patel along with all-rounder Babasafi Pathan. The bowling attack is led by the experienced duo of Atit Sheth (right-arm medium pacer) and Lukman Meriwala (left-arm speedster) and comprises the spin trio of Ninad Rathwa (left-arm orthodox spinner), off-spinner Kartik Kakade and slow-left arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt. Baroda are placed in Elite Group A for the domestic ODI tournament alongside Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Hyderabad, Tripura and Goa. They will be playing their matches in Surat. Squad: Krunal Pandya (Captain), Kedar Devdhar (Vice-Captain), Pratyushkumar, Vishnu Solanki, Abhimanyusingh Rajput, Smit Patel (WK), Ninad Rathwa, Atit Sheth, Kartik Kakade, Lukman Meriwala, Babasafi Pathan, Dhruv Patel, Bhargav Bhatt, Bhanu Pania, Chintal Gandhi, Parth Kohli, Jyotsnil Singh, Mitesh Patel (WK), Soeb Sopariya, Shivalik Sharma, Pradeep Yadav and Pratik Ghodedra.