It’s South resilience vs West might
Hyderabad, Feb. 1: Dinesh Karthik-led South Zone will lock horns with Wasim Jaffer’s West Zone in the Duleep Trophy final at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium from Tuesday.
The two teams will be severely tested with some big names missing as they are turning out for the Board President’s XI in the two-day game against the South Africans in Nagpur.
On the eve of the five-day final, Jaffer said, "Both teams have been hurt badly by losing players. But we can’t complain. It’s an opportunity for other players to make a mark."
West Zone have lost out on Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and Abhishek Nayar from the side that played the semis against North Zone at Rajkot.
South Zone, on the other hand, are without Abhinav Mukund, Manish Pandey, R. Ashwin and Abhimanyu Mithun. Karthik said his team would have the bigger challenge as they had a young side. "Losing out on players will pose a challenge for us. But we do have experience in the form of Robin (Uthappa), who will have to play a bigger role," Karthik said.
On paper, West Zone start favourites as they will bank on all-rounders in the form of the Pathan brothers, Dhawal Kulkarni, Ramesh Powar and Ravindra Jadeja.
The bowling too looks compact with Munaf Patel, Kulkarni, Avishkar Salvi and Irfan expected to hurry the batters whilst Iqbal Abdulla and Yusuf will don the role of slow-ball bowlers.
There was an injury scare for West Zone with Irfan down with fever on Monday but Jaffer expects the left-armer to be fit for the game. South Zone may not boast of heavyweights in their armoury but Karthik’s men will be more than happy to have the underdogs’ tag around them and keep their opponents at bay.
Teams
West Zone: Wasim Jaffer (capt), Dhaval Kulkarni, Ramesh Powar, Harshad Khadiwale, Ankit Bawne, Iqbal Abdulla, Avishkar Salvi, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Munaf Patel, Pinal Shah, Bhavik Thakre, Kamlesh Makwane, Ravindra Jadeja, Chirag Patel.
South Zone: Dinesh Karthik (capt), S. Anirudha, Robin Uthappa, Arun Karthik, Ganesh Satish, C.M. Gautam, P. Prem, C. Ganapathy, T. Achyuthi Rao, S. Arvind, Alfred Absolem, Shadab Jakati, Aushik Srinivas, K.B. Pawan, Ahmed Quadri.
Prasad Ramasubramanian
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