Senior cricketer Ambati Rayudu will represent Baroda in the upcoming domestic after receiving a No-objection Certificate from the Andhra Cricket Association. He will join them as a professional player and is said to be available for all three formats despite having only played white-ball cricket since November 2017.
This will be Rayudu’s second stint with Baroda having earlier played for them from 2012 to 2014.
The 36-year-old batter has represented a host of domestic sides including Andhra, Hyderabad, Baroda and Vidarbha.
The veteran packs an experience of 97 first-class matches, 172 List A games and 269 T20s. He has scored a combined 17393 runs across formats including 22 hundreds and 104 half-centuries.
He has also represented India in 65 ODIs and six T20Is.
The Baroda Cricket Association have also appointed former allrounder Yusuf Pathan as their mentor for one year.
BCA chief executive Shishir Hattangadi said Pathan has been brought in to help nurture young talent. “Baroda is a small unit, and the idea is to have someone of Yusuf’s stature to help nurture the talent coming through. We’ve seen players don’t lack ability, it’s their confidence level and mental make-up that needs tweaks. We thought Yusuf would be a perfect fit,” Hattangadi told ESPNCricinfo.
BCA is also hopeful of convincing Deepak Hooda to return to Baroda.
Hooda and Krunal recently played together for Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2022. Hattangadi said the pair has resolved their issues.
“As far as I know, they get along as well as they did earlier. They have cleared their differences. They played and excelled together for the same IPL team. They have sorted whatever issues they have,” Hattangadi said.