“You kept fighting, kept performing”: Irfan Pathan elated by Deepak Hooda’s maiden ODI call-up for West Indies series

Irfan Pathan elated: The former Indian all-rounder congratulated his former state teammate for getting a national call-up.

The senior selection committee led by former fast bowler Chetan Sharma has made as many as six changes to India’s ODI squad for the upcoming three-match series against West Indies.

India, who were most recently whitewashed by South Africa, will finally start their journey under a full-time white-ball captain in Rohit Sharma. Sharma, who had missed the tour of South Africa due to a hamstring injury, had passed a fitness test earlier today.

All-rounder Washington Sundar, who had missed the ODI series in South Africa after testing positive for COVID-19, has been rightly added to the squad as he would be looking to add to his tally of an ODI after more than four years.

Spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who hasn’t played a competitive match since getting dropped after Sri Lanka tour last year, has earned a comeback primarily due to the selectors’ wrong precedent.

Irfan Pathan elated by Deepak Hooda’s maiden ODI call-up for West Indies series

Meanwhile, Rajasthan all-rounder Deepak Hooda has been handed a maiden national call-up. In six Vijay Hazare Trophy matches last month, Hooda had scored 198 runs at an average and strike rate of 33 and 95.65 respectively including a heroic 109 (109) against Karnataka in a knockout match at the KL Saini Ground.

Before the Vijay Hazare Trophy, Hooda had amassed 294 runs in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at an average and strike rate of 73.50 and 168 respectively to finish the tournament as its second-highest run-scorer. In what was his maiden appearance for Rajasthan, Hooda had scored four half-centuries in six innings.

In his 74-match List A career for over seven years now, Hooda’s 2,257 runs have come at an average and strike rate of 38.25 and 93.80 respectively including four centuries and 12 half-centuries.

Hooda, who had made his T20 and List A debut for Baroda under former India all-rounder Yusuf Pathan and has shared the dressing room on numerous occasions with his younger brother Irfan Pathan, received heartening wishes for his national call-up from the latter.

Involved in a major controversy with the then Baroda captain Krunal Pandya, Hooda eventually had to change his state team which encompassed of him missing an already truncated domestic season during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the last two Indian Premier League seasons for Punjab Kings, Hooda had scored 261 runs at an average and strike rate of 23.73 and 134.54 respectively with the help of two half-centuries. Hooda’s Rajasthan and Punjab Kings teammate Ravi Bishnoi has also been handed with a maiden white-ball call-up. Madhya Pradesh fast bowler Avesh Khan is the third uncapped player to find a spot in India’s 18-member ODI squad.