Irfan Pathan set to play first Ranji Trophy match in 12 months

J&K Ranji Trophy squad: Irfan Pathan, who is now a player cum mentor of J&K, last featured in a first-class game in October 2017 before getting dropped from the Baroda side

Irfan Pathan is all set to play his first Ranji Trophy game in more than 12 months after being named in the 16-man Jammu and Kashmir squad for the first two matches of the upcoming season.

Pathan, who is now a player cum mentor of J&K, last featured in a first-class game in October 2017 before getting dropped from the Baroda side. The all-rounder then decided to make his move far north and joined hands with J&K. He played all eight matches for J&K in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, picking up 10 wickets and is certain to make a comeback in Ranji Trophy when his side starts off its campaign against Rajasthan at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on November 1 followed by the match against Goa which begins on November 12th at the Goa Cricket Association Academy Ground in Porvorim.

Full Squad: Parvez Rasool (c), Irfan Pathan, Shubham Khajuria, Ahmad Banday, Shubham Pundir, Ian Dev, Owais Shah, Obaid Haroon (wk), Waseem Raza, Amir Aziz, Mohammad Mudhasir, Umar Nazir, Aakash Chaudhary, Fazil Rashid, Rohit Sharma, Paras Sharma.

Apart from Pathan, the J&K side has the experienced Parvez Rasool in their ranks, who is also the leader of the side and would look to get back into spinners’ race for the Indian T20 side by putting together some solid performances.

Senior players including Samiullah Beigh, Abid Nabi, Adil Reshi and Imran Haroon have been left out of the squad for the first two matches but are likely to be considered for the remaining fixtures.

Milap Mewda has been appointed as the head coach of the side and Amit Bargotra will take up the responsibility of the fielding coach.