A keen battle is on the cards when North Zone take on West Zone in the quarterfinals of the Duleep Trophy that gets underway at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Saturday. The match, though, has lost much sheen with many Indian stalwarts withdrawing.

In the context, North Zone would be a lot more bothered by the absence of big names than their opponents. Virender Sehwag, who was expected to lead, is out due to an ankle injury.

Gautam Gambhir and Harbhajan Singh are unavailable as they are participating in the Champions League in South Africa, while Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh have opted for rest.

On the other hand, Zaheer Khan, Yusuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja are the prominent absentees that West Zone have to do without.

Not too familiar with the playing conditions, both the away teams might want to take the cautious route than playing the aggressor.

Under the circumstances, the storyline of a ‘win the toss and elect to bat’ wouldn’t be a far-fetched one.

Team India’s latest Test batting sensation Cheteshwar Pujara, who is leading the West Zone, was optimistic on the eve of the match.

“We have the right blend of experience and youth. Our batting department looks solid and I am sure players like Ajinkya Rahane and Abhishek Nayar are raring to go. I am also looking forward to make the best impact before the England series starts,” said Pujara.

Indian discard Parthiv Patel, who was drafted into the West squad at the eleventh hour, adds teeth to the batting attack.

But it will be interesting to see if West opt for the young U-19 World Cup-winning wicketkeeper Smit Patel ahead of the experienced Parthiv.

In the bowling department, West will sorely miss pacer Zaheer and to an extent all-rounder Yusuf’s handy off-spinners. However, Pujara added that his team have the firepower to put it past North.

“We have quality spinners in our ranks. I am banking on them to come good,” he said. Led by left-handed batsman Shikar Dhawan, North would be gunning to give it their all with whatever restricted resources they hold.

A lot will depend on speedster Ishant Sharma and leg-spinner Amit Mishra to guide the young bowling attack.

Meanwhile, K. Parthasarthy, the chief curator at Chepauk, said that under the BCCI guidelines, the strip has been prepared with clay soil. “Earlier, we were using red soil that helped the spinners once the pitch started to wear out.

This wicket (clay) should help seam bowling initially but we will have to wait and see how it behaves as the match progresses.

In the preceding senior division league matches though, the wickets turned out to be sporting enough,” said Parthasarthy.

Duleep Trophy, which used to be a marque event on the national calendar, sadly has lost its charm in the recent past.

Constant changes to the tournament’s structure has not helped its cause either. Nevertheless, a handful of fringe players would like to use this platform to showcase their talents and come into the national reckoning.

Squads

West Zone: Cheteshwar Pujara (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Kaustubh Pawar, Bhushan Chavan, Ankit Bawne, Abhishek Nayar, Kedar Jadhav, Smit Patel, Harmeet Singh, Samad Fallah, Murtuza Vohra, Ishwar Choudhari, Kshemal Waingankar, Kamlesh Makwana, Ankit Chavan and Parthiv Patel. Coach: Sulakshan Kulkarni.

North Zone: Shikar Dhawan (c), Ishant Sharma, Parwinder Awana, Vikas Mishra, Bipul Sharma, Mayank Sidana, Udey Kaul, Paras Gogra, Rishi Dhawan, Gurvinder Singh, Nitin Siani, Harshul Patel, Rahul Dewan, Sunny Singh, Amit Mishra, ID Singh. Manager: Ashok Vasvani.

Umpires: Shamshudeen and Subrato. Match referee & 3rd umpire: Chinmay Sharma.
Note: Match commences at 9.30am on first three days and 9.15am on the final day.