South Zone favourite over depleted West Zone in Duleep Trophy final
Nine-time champions South Zone start favourites to win the title after a gap of 13 years when they lock horns with a depleted West Zone in their five-day final of the Duleep Trophy tournament on Thursday.
Led by S Badrinath, in the absence of an injured VVS Laxman, South Zone look stronger as West would be without Zaheer Khan, Yusuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja who are doing national duty in Sri Lanka.
South’s batting quartet of Rahul Dravid, Badrinath, Dinesh Karthik and R Ashwin are in good nick. Dravid, in particular, has found his form with two centuries in two matches, while Karthik has also two tons against Central Zone.
Though they will be missing their main bowler, Lakshmipathy Balaji, off to Sri Lanka as Munaf Patel’s replacement, the recovery of opening batsman M Vijay and pacer S Sreesanth from injuries has given them a boost.
Balaji has been replaced by Robin D’Souza from Goa in the South’s bowling attack but the team would depend on Sreesanth and leg-spinner M Suresh, who has claimed 12 wickets in two matches, to take the opposition wickets at MA Chidambaram stadium.
“Obviously, we will miss Balaji, but we are planning to go in with five bowlers and if our batting fires, then we would be in strong position. The pitch looks dry and is likely to take turn as the match progresses,” Badrinath said.
On the other hand, West Zone would rely on youngsters Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, who have been consistent with the willow in both Ranji Trophy and the Duleep matches, besides captain Wasim Jaffer.
“Both teams have strong batting line-ups and I feel the bowlers will make a difference. I am confident that we will do well in this match,” said Jaffer.
West have so far won the trophy on 16 occasions (13 outright and three joint winners) while South have won the title on nine occasions (one joint winner with West).
Teams
South Zone: S Badrinath (capt), Murali Vijay, Robin Uthappa, Rahul Dravid, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shadab Jakati, S Sreesanth, Vinay Kumar, Saurav Bandekar, Robin D’Souza, M Suresh, Anoop Pai, Rohan Prem and Abhinav Mukund.
West Zone: Wasim Jaffer (capt), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Kedar Jadhav, Bhavik Thakker, Ramesh Powar, Rajesh Pawar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Siddarth Trivedi, Samad Fallah, Ajitesh Argal, Azharuddin Bilakhia, Abhishek Nayar and Ameya Shrikhende.
Umpires: Marias Eramus (South Africa) and Amish Saheba (India).
Third umpire: Shahvir Tarapore.
Match Referee: Sunil Chaturvedi.
