Irfan included in West Zone side to play Deodhar tie on Feb 24

Mumbai, Feb 19 (UNI) Indian pace bowler Irfan Pathan has been given one more opportunity to regain his form ahead of the World Cup when he was selected for the West Zone side to play Central Zone in the Deodhar Trophy limited overs league tie on February 24.

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.

Pathan, who has found a place in the Indian squad for the World Cup, missed all the four matches against Sri Lanka due to a shoulder injury.

Pathan has played only one international match since being sent back unceremoniously mid-way through the South African tour for non performance. He was part of the squad for the fourth and final ODI of the previous home series against the West Indies at Vadodara on March 31 before he injured his shoulder.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has asked the speedster to prove his fitness by playing the Deodhar Trophy match before leaving for the Caribbean.

Pathan is to be replaced by Gujarat's Sidharth Trivedi from the second match onwards in the West Zone 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 UNI