Hard-hitting batter Deepak Hooda is set to return to his home team Baroda in domestic cricket five years after moving to Rajasthan.“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 to TOI on Thursday.The batting allrounder had joined Rajasthan as a professional for the 2021-22 domestic season after severing ties with Baroda. Hooda had moved to Rajasthan after being banned for the 2020-21 season in January by the BCA for “indiscipline.”Hooda moved out of the team hotel on the eve of the Baroda’s first match in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in January 2021, alleging that Baroda captain Krunal Pandya‘s “bad behaviour”, abusive language and “bullying” had made him “depressed, demoralised and under pressure” and forced him to walk out.However, Parikh said that “all issues between BCA and Hooda had been sorted now.”In 67 first-class matches, the 31-year-old Hooda has scored 4267 runs at 45.39, with 14 centuries and 18 half-centuries, and a highest score of 293 not out. He has also taken 29 wickets@41.44, with a best haul of five for 31.In 109 list A matches, he has scored 3340 runs at 38.83, with six centuries and 17 half-centuries, and a highest score of 104, besides taking 42 wickets at 29.92, with a best haul of five for 55. In 230 T20s, Hooda has stroked 3972 runs@24.67, with two centuries, and a highest score of 108.Hooda has played 10 ODIs (153 runs at 25.50 & three wickets at 39.66) and 21 T20Is (368 runs at 30.66, six wickets at 12.66), though he last played for India in a T20I against New Zealand on February 1 2023.Meanwhile, ‘keeper-batter Jitesh Sharma will continue to represent Baroda as a guest player, but only in white-ball formats, Parikh informed.
