Injured and out-of-form speedster Irfan Pathan will
have one more opportunity to prove his fitness and form before the World
Cup as he plays for the West Zone against Central Zone in the Deodhar
Trophy limited overs cricket league tie. 
Pathan was today chosen to play for the West Zone in the inter-zonal
tournament opener at Ahmedabad under Mumbai's Ranji Trophy winning captain
Amol Muzumdar before leaving for the West Indies with the Indian team
for the World Cup on February 28 night.
The Baroda youngster, who has been picked in the 15-member
Indian squad for the mega event starting on March 13, missed the entire four-match
home series against Sri Lanka that ended at Vishakapatnam on February 17 due
to a sore shoulder.
He played in the fourth and final ODI of the previous home
series against the West Indies at Vadodara on March 31 before injuring his shoulder
and has been told to prove his fitness through the Deodhar Trophy encounter
by the Cricket Board before leaving for the Caribbean.
Pathan is to be replaced by Gujarat's Sidharth Trivedi from
the second match onwards in the West team, according to selection committee
meeting's convener Prof Ratnakar Shetty.
West Zone Deodhar squad: Amol Muzumdar (capt.), Sairaj
Bahutule (vice capt.), Wasim Jaffer, Parthiv Patel, Rohit Sharma, Pinal Shah,
Ramesh Powar, Rajesh Pawar, Rakesh Patel, Irfan Pathan (to be replaced by Sidharth
Trivedi from second match), Srikant Munde, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Yousuf Pathan
and Cheteshwar Pujara. Coach: Chandrakant Pandit; Manager: Atul Bedade.
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