Hardik Pandya has made himself unavailable for the Ranji Trophy 2021/22, which is scheduled to start from 10 February. Baroda Cricket Association has named Kedar Devdhar as captain, with Vishnu Solanki as his deputy. Krunal Pandya has also been named in their 20-member squad.
Hardik has not played Test cricket since 2018. His last appearance for India came a few months ago, in the ICC T20 World Cup. Since then he has remained on the sidelines due to a recurring back injury.
In his recent interview with PTI, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly had expressed his wish to see Hardik play in the Ranji Trophy: 'Hardik was injured and a break was given to him to completely recover, so that he can continue to serve Indian cricket for a long period of time. I believe I will see him play some Ranji Trophy to start with. I expect him to bowl a lot more overs and his body will get stronger.'
Hardik is expected to return to action in IPL 2022, as captain of the CVC-owned Ahmedabad franchise.
The Ranji Trophy will be held in two phases, on either side of the IPL.
Baroda Ranji Trophy Squad 2022: Kedar Devdhar (c), Babasafikhan Pathan (wk), Vishnu Solanki, Pratyush Kumar, Shivalik Sharma, Krunal Pandya, Abhimanyusingh Rajput, Dhruv Patel, Mitesh Patel, Lukman Meriwala, Atit Sheth, Bhargav Bhatt, Parth Kohli, Shashwat Rawat, Soyeb Sopariya, Kartik Kakade, Gurjindersingh Mann, Jyotsnil Singh, Ninad Rathwa, Akshay More.