The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Irfan will have to play in Deodhar Trophy: Shah

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Sunday, Feb 18, 2007
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Irfan will have to play in Deodhar Trophy: Shah

Special Correspondent

Testing times... .Irfan Pathan. — Photo: AP

Mumbai: Irfan Pathan's prolonged struggle with his left shoulder that kept him out of the four-match series against Sri Lanka has vexed officials of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

"He will have to play for West Zone in the forthcoming Deodhar Trophy,'' BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah said.

West Zone is slated to play Central Zone in the opening match at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad, on February 25.

In the fourth and final ODI in the Pepsi Cup series against the West Indies, Irfan's seven-over spell at the IPCL was run of the mill stuff.

Irfan did not play the first two matches at Kolkata and Rajkot, but was thereafter included in the squad for the ICC World Cup 2007.

"Both Yuvraj and Irfan are fit, but should there be even a slight doubt that they are not 100 per cent fit, they will not play the match (at Goa),'' Dilip Vengsarkar, Chairman of the selection committee, had said after announcing the team for the World Cup on February 12.

That he was not even fit to play the fourth match at Visakhapatnam has caused bitter resentment among BCCI officials, who may now ask the team physio John Gloster for an exact assessment of Irfan's shoulder injury.

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