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[suraj]

Injured and out-of-form pacer Irfan Pathan will have one more opportunity to prove his fitness and form before the World Cup as he played for the West Zone against Central Zone in the Deodhar Trophy limited overs cricket league tie.

Pathan on Monday was 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 Visakhapatnam 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.

The first three matches of the Deodhar Trophy will be held in Ahmedabad's Motera Stadium and the later stage of the tournament, to be played in league format, will be held in Mumbai at the Brabourne Stadium and Wankhede Stadium.

Pathan has played just one match at the international level after he was sent back unceremoniously from the South Africa tour before the conclusion of the Test series, in his hometown, and questions were raised about his fitness and form when he was picked for the World Cup by the Dilip Vengsarkar-led national selection panel on February 12.

He missed the last two ties of the series against Sri Lanka too after being picked for the mega event.

BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah has said the left-arm bowler needs to prove his fitness by playing in the Deodhar Trophy tie before he joins his World Cup teammates in Mumbai on February 27.

BCCI Chief Sharad Pawar is to address the team on same day prior to the team's departure the next day.