Breaking! Yusuf Pathan to mentor the Baroda domestic team players

Former India cricketer Yusuf Pathan has been appointed as a mentor by the Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) to develop both junior and senior cricketers of the team. The veteran cricketer will assist young and aspiring cricketers in his hometown of Vadodara.

Through their Cricket Academy of Pathans (CAP), the Pathan brothers (Yusuf and Irfan) have been assisting players from all across India. They have 31 facilities in India, including one in Salem, Tamil Nadu, which was just opened. Vadodara has been a reliable source of talent for the Indian cricket team. Apart from the Pathan brothers, Baroda also has the Pandya brothers (Hardik and Krunal) and Indian stars Yastika Bhatia and Radha Yadav.

"The decision to rope in Yusuf was taken by the BCA apex council on Friday. He won’t be charging any fee from the association. His initial contract will be for one year and it will be reviewed in the next season," said Shishir Hattangadi, CEO of the Baroda Cricket Association, highlighting Yusuf Pathan’s key responsibility as the mentor, as quoted by The Times of India.

"He has a lot of international cricket experience. He will train the cricketers in playing smartly on the field, nurture them and also suggest promising players to the BCA," he added.

This will be his first major assignment since his retirement in February 2021. He made his debut in ICC T20 World Cup 2007 in the final against Pakistan, playing with his brother Irfan Pathan. Since then, he has played in 57 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and 22 Twenty-Twenty-Innings (T20Is). He also played in the Indian T20 League for a long time. Yusuf scored 810 runs in ODIs and scored 236 runs in the 22 T20Is he played. He also took 33 wickets in ODIs and 13 wickets in T20Is.

The 39-year-old has also played 100 first-class games for Baroda, taking 201 wickets and scoring 4,825 runs at an average of 34.46. Pathan had the highest strike rate among players with over 200 runs in the 2006-07 Ranji Trophy.