Deepak Hooda Returns to Baroda: Healing Rift and New Beginnings
Deepak Hooda’s long road back to Baroda is finally complete. Five years, one public fallout, a season-long ban, and a fresh chapter in Rajasthan later, the prodigal batting allrounder is returning to the team where it all began.
“Yes, Deepak is coming back to Baroda. He and Krunal (Pandya) have spoken to each other. Everything is sorted between them,” Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) CEO Snehal Parikh confirmed on Thursday, drawing a line under one of domestic cricket’s most talked-about rifts.
Rift healed, doors reopened
Hooda’s exit from Baroda in early 2021 was anything but quiet. On the eve of Baroda’s first match in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy that January, he walked out of the team hotel, accusing then-captain Krunal Pandya of “bad behaviour”, abusive language and “bullying” that he said left him “depressed, demoralised and under pressure.”
The BCA responded with a ban for the entire 2020-21 season, citing “indiscipline.” Hooda cut ties and signed with Rajasthan as a professional for the 2021-22 domestic season, rebuilding his career away from home.
Now, the same association that once sidelined him has welcomed him back. Parikh made it clear that “all issues between BCA and Hooda had been sorted now,” a significant shift given how bitter the original split had been. The reconciliation with Krunal Pandya, central to the fallout, clears the final obstacle.
For Baroda, it is not just a truce. It is a major cricketing gain.
Proven numbers, unfinished business
Hooda returns as a seasoned domestic heavyweight, not a youngster trying to break through.
In 67 first-class matches, the 31-year-old has piled up 4,267 runs at an impressive average of 45.39, with 14 centuries and 18 fifties. His highest score, a marathon 293 not out, underlines his appetite for long innings. With the ball, he has chipped in with 29 wickets at 41.44, including a best of 5 for 31.
List A cricket tells a similar story of consistency and utility. Across 109 games, Hooda has scored 3,340 runs at 38.83, with six hundreds and 17 half-centuries, and a top score of 104. His off-spin has brought him 42 wickets at 29.92, with a best of 5 for 55.
In the shortest format, he brings both experience and power. In 230 T20s, he has 3,972 runs at 24.67, with two centuries and a highest of 108, the kind of profile that can tilt tight games and bolster a middle order that has sometimes lacked finishing heft.
Hooda’s India career remains stop-start. He has featured in 10 ODIs, scoring 153 runs at 25.50 and taking three wickets at 39.66. In 21 T20Is, he has 368 runs at 30.66 and six wickets at a striking average of 12.66. His last appearance for India came in a T20I against New Zealand on February 1, 2023.
The numbers say one thing clearly: Baroda are not just welcoming back a familiar face. They are adding a high-impact, three-dimensional cricketer to their core.
Jitesh stays on, Munaf returns in a new role
Hooda’s homecoming is not the only move shaping Baroda’s next phase.
Parikh confirmed that wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma will continue to represent Baroda as a guest player, but only in white-ball formats. That decision locks in a powerful limited-overs core: Jitesh’s explosiveness, Hooda’s all-round value and the presence of Krunal Pandya give Baroda a modern, aggressive spine in both ODIs and T20s.
At the structural level, another familiar name is stepping back into the Baroda ecosystem. Former India pacer Munaf Patel has been appointed pace bowling coach and mentor at the BCA Academy in Vadodara. His role will be to guide the next crop of quicks, adding international experience and local understanding to the development pathway.
So Baroda enter the new season with old wounds healed, a marquee player restored, and a former World Cup winner shaping their fast-bowling future.
For a team that has often promised more than it has delivered in recent years, the question now is simple: can this reset turn reconciliation into trophies?
