Baroda team has positives to take back

AHMEDABAD: Baroda cricket team finished their late Ramakant Desai West Zone one-dayers' campaign in style after clinching last-over thriller against Saurashtra.
Whether or not they have qualified for the knock-outs will be known only on the morrow but the team played well for their two wins in the tournament, especially without their experienced bowler Irfan Pathan.
Baroda skipper Yusuf Pathan, however, will not forget his team's loss to Gujarat on the opening day after putting on board 300 plus runs and cruel loss to Mumbai where they could not chase down 201 after being 160 for four at one stage.
Two bloopers alright, Baroda team can still take positives from this tournament. They have found a genuine allrounder in young Deepak Hooda who notched up two List A fifties in their last two matches and also picked up wickets.
Another youngster who carved a niche for himself was Hardik Pandya who stood like rock in Baroda middle-order registering a fifty himself. One positive in the bowling has to be Lukman Meriwala who virtually bowled his team to victory in their last match against Saurashtra.
His three wickets, two back-to-back balls, not only gave Baroda win but also a chance to play in the knock-outs. Baroda Cricket Association's chairman of selection committee Nayan Mongia admits that his team has been inconsistent but he knows the positives as well.
"The young wicketkeeper Dixit Patel is simply superb. Also youngsters Deepak and Hardik are the future players for us," he acknowledged.