Yusuf Pathan’s bittersweet experience as captain
After being plagued by injury, Baroda captain Irfan Pathan returned to lead Baroda to the Ranji Trophy quarters. Now that Baroda’s season is all but over Yusuf’s stint as captain could, at best, be described as bittersweet, writes Bikash Mohapatra.
When Yusuf Pathan was named captain of Baroda at the start of the Ranji season, there were a lot of expectations.
The former champions had failed to make it to the knock-out stages in the previous season and their shoddy performance resulted in the sacking of the then captain, Pinal Shah.
Now that Baroda’s season is all but over — it is highly unlikely (read impossible) that they will overturn Mumbai’s massive advantage — Yusuf’s stint as captain could, at best, be described as bittersweet.
Baroda performed way better than they had in the previous season, finishing second, behind Uttar Pradesh, in Group B — a tough group that included former champions like Delhi, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu — losing only one match (to UP), and qualifying for the knock-out stages.
However, Yusuf led them only in the first two of those outings, against Karnataka and Vidharba. Both the matches ended as draws, but Baroda picked six points, with Yusuf playing a lead role with both bat (78) and ball (two wickets) against Vidharba.
Having been forced to sit out with an injury, his deputy Ambati Rayudu led Baroda to the knock-out stages in his absence.
Back as captain in the quarter-final clash against Mumbai, Yusuf could do little as the 39-time champions stayed on course for a semi-final berth.
Not that the player had any regrets.
“I am quite satisfied with the team’s performance,” said Yusuf, when asked to analyse the season.
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