Ending the suspense over his fitness, left-arm seamer Irfan Pathan today got the
green signal to play in the ICC cricket World Cup beginning in the West
Indies next month.
"There are no alteration in the 15-member World Cup squad.
Pathan will go to West Indies for the Workd Cup," chief of selection
committee Dilip Vengsarkar told reporters after the Baroda speedster
took two wickets for the West Zone in the Deodhar Trophy match against
the Central Zone here.
The Deodhar match was seen as an acid test of sorts for Pathan to prove to
the selectors, three of them were present at the venue, that he was a good pick
for the Indian team.
Asked whether 8.4 overs that the seamer bowled today was enough
to assess his fitness, Vengarkar said, "it is very difficult to gauge anybody's
fitness in such a short time. Irfan has not played for the last one month and
needs to bowl more. He has not played much cricket".
Pathan, who has not been in the best of shape in the last few months, took
two wickets for 48 runs for West Zone.
"There is not much time left for the World Cup and Pathan
will be bowling in the nets and will also play in the warm up matchs (in West
Indies) before the world cup begins."
The 22-year-old paceman had suffered a shoulder injury and
missed out the entire four-match home series against Sri Lankan earlier
this month.
|
